


The Garden Of Bliss

by KirianaStarfire



Category: Marvel, comics - Fandom, xmen - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-12
Updated: 2013-10-13
Packaged: 2017-11-12 00:24:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 48,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/484582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KirianaStarfire/pseuds/KirianaStarfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When their home is attacked by a militant force, Millie's and Jamie's father sends them to the Xavier Institute for protection while he covers their escape. Once there, they learn more about their father, their powers and themselves while Millie also experiences vivid dreams involving their, now dead, father. But the danger isn't over and the group that attacked them seems hell bent on capturing or killing them through whatever means necessary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Special thanks to the wonderful Liz (redbess/betadamantium) for betaing this for me. It's been in the works for about two years and I hope you all enjoy it. Rating is for later chapters where it gets pretty dark. I will mark those chapters with warnings.

**Chapter 1**

_"Do you think that you shall enter the Garden of Bliss without such trials as came to those who passed before you?" - Scott Reed_

The old car chugged and coughed the last few inches up the hill before giving a sound that seemed like a dying breath and falling silent. The woman in the driver's seat threw it into park before it could decide to go anywhere of its own volition and pressed her forehead to the steering wheel. If this wasn't just her luck. She sat in the ancient, brown Volvo for several long moments, repeating a mental mantra -- _I will not swear, I will not swear, I will not swear_ \-- as she tried to get a reign on her frustration.

She banged her fists against the steering wheel and looked up just in time to see smoke or steam starting to leak out from under the hood. "Great. Just lovely." She hoped it was steam and not smoke. Smoke likely meant fire under the hood and they were more than fucked. And unfortunately, she didn’t know enough about cars to judge one way or the other without getting out to look, especially in the dark. The woman unfastened her seat belt, reached underneath her seat for the flashlight, and spared a glance at the sleeping puppy sprawled across the length of the back seat before kicking her door open and wandering around to pop the hood. She jumped back with a startled shout as steam exploded from underneath it. Sweet Jesus, that had been close. And she was an idiot. Nice to have some things about herself confirmed.

The young woman took a few seconds while the air around the hood cleared to take a quick mental stock of the situation. It was dark, not good, but she'd managed to pull up under a street light, good. A glance at her watch told her it was after 10 and she was so far out of town she could barely hear the sounds of the city nearby; double not good. She reached into her pocket for her mobile only to find that it had died. That wasn't just 'not good'. That was downright shitty luck. She reached up to run her hand through her thick brown hair. Could things get worse? _Stupid question, Millie. That’s just asking for trouble and you’ve already got that in spades._ Millie sighed and closed her eyes trying to regain what little control stress had left her. Seconds later, as though fate were answering her unvoiced question, she heard thunder rumble in the distance and looked up to see the clouds gathering across the moon.

"Fuck! Fuck, fuck fuck fuck! Thanks for nothing!" she shouted at the open air, kicking the tire as hard as she could. So much for not swearing. She slammed the hood with more force than she probably should have and the entire car shuddered, and swallowed back the frustrated tears that were threatening as she stalked back around to the driver's side of the car. Once back inside, she closed the door and flipped on the hazard lights before closing her eyes and leaning her head against the back of her seat. The young woman took several slow, deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She had to stay calm, but dammit! They were so close! Within miles of their goal and the car just had to break down.

It took a few moments, but soon there was a faint, wet 'thunk' of water on glass that slowly gained momentum until it was falling steadily. Millie sighed and looked around the car, intent on focusing on anything but the current situation. If she didn’t, she was sure she’d lose it and break down into frustrated, angry sobs and that release was a luxury she couldn’t afford.

The car was old enough that the fact it had run at all was nothing short of a small miracle. She never had gotten the chance to figure out what year it was, but the angular build of it, the rust, and the dark brown color told the story of a vehicle that might date back to the 70s and was ragged with it. It certainly ate gas badly enough to be from that less fuel efficient era. The upholstery on the seats was worn and fraying, and the dash was peeling and cracked. The radio was so old that it had dials instead of a digital tuner; it was impossible to tell if the dash readouts were ever telling the truth. But, it had run and gotten them halfway across the country until that moment. Maybe it would start again if she just gave it time to cool off. She could only hope and her hopes were fraying as thin as the woven fabric of the seats.

"Millie?"

Millie turned to see a young boy, no more than 11, leaning between the seats, his longish brown hair flopping into his eyes. She shifted in her seat and saw that he was still naked from when he shifted back from the puppy form he'd been sleeping in and held back another sigh. Shape-shifters and casual nudity seemed to go hand in hand.

"Yeah, Jame?"

"What happened?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his hands over his face.

"The car broke down and my phone is dead." She didn’t have a car charger. The trip was so haphazard and stressful that it hadn’t dawned on her that it might be useful to have. God, this had to be a nightmare. "Get dressed, would you? It's raining and I don't want you to catch cold."

The boy nodded and leaned back to the backseat of the car. Soon the vehicle was moving and rocking with the motions of a child trying to get dressed in the dark. Millie reached down into her purse and pulled out the address and map her father had left in the safe deposit box for her. A push of a button turned on the dome light so she could see. She wasn't great at reading maps, but they'd hit Purdys about twenty minutes ago. That meant that they should only be about ten minutes from their destination. She looked up to peer through the rain soaked windshield thinking that it was ten minutes too far.

Jamie climbed over the seat, now fully dressed in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, and settled on the passenger side. "So, what're we going to do?" he asked after a few seconds, sniffing a little before leaning down to pull his sneakers back on his feet. Millie had learned to ignore the sniffing a long time ago. They weren’t indications that Jamie was sick at all. When she’d asked him about it one time, he said it was because it made sense to get scents from things and that it helped him know what was going on around him. Millie guessed it was just part of his shifting abilities that carried over from his animal forms.

"I don't know yet. I'm sort of hoping that the car was just overheated and if we give it a little bit it'll cool off and start again." She was fairly convinced that wasn't the case, but a girl could hope.

"How far are we from the school?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Millie admitted and set the map between them. She pointed to a dot on the map, barely visible in the dim, orange glow of the dome light. "See, that's where it's at and back here is the town we just passed through when we got off the interstate, Purdys."

Jamie peered at the map. "It doesn't look that far on the map." The rain started to fall harder. The boy hesitated for a second before asking another question. "So, we're waiting for the car to cool off?"

"Or the rain to stop, yeah."

"Will you read to me while we're waiting?"

That got a small chuckle out of Millie. Leave it to her little brother to make the best of anything. She wished she could be more like him in that aspect. Then again, maybe it was just the innocence of childhood that she had long outgrown. "Okay." He leaned over the back of the seat and pulled out the book they'd been reading, "Peter Pan and the Starcatchers." Millie continued the chapter she'd started last night, and when that was finished, she handed the book to Jamie so he could take over and read to her. While he read, she found her mind wandering rather than focusing on the words of the book.

Millie stared through her reflection in the dark window, her blue eyes looking at nothing. In the course of a month her life had gone from moderately boring to painfully upside down. It still seemed very surreal at times and she was always convinced, somewhere in her mind, that she would wake up at any moment. But the reality was that she knew everything had happened, and despite it all she had to keep going. Jamie needed her to be the strong one and the one who knew what she was doing. They were the only constant in each others lives anymore and that kind of pressure didn't leave any room for momentary weaknesses or emotional breakdowns. She felt like she had changed so much in the few weeks since the attack, had gotten colder and more distant from everything except her brother. She'd grown more suspicious and distrusting than she'd ever been in her life. Even small acts of kindness, like the waiter at the diner that morning who had mistaken Jamie for her son and discounted their meals for no other reason than to be helpful, were scrutinized from every possible angle for ulterior motives.

Millie was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the SUV that had pulled behind them until someone came over to her window and knocked. She started with a surprised noise and looked over at the woman through the window. She rolled down her window a bit, noticing that the rain had slacked off enough that the dark skinned woman didn't really have to worry about getting to wet.

The stranger smiled in greeting and leaned down a little to look inside, the interior car lights reflecting dimly off of her white hair and blue eyes. "Are you alright?" she asked, her voice thick with some kind of accent Millie couldn't decipher.

Millie looked at the woman suspiciously for a second. "Yeah. The car stalled out and we're just waiting for it to cool before trying to start up again." 

The woman nodded. "You do not have a phone?" 

"It's dead." 

"Would you like to try it again and if it does not start up we can call a tow on my phone and you two can wait in my car, if you like." The woman smiled. She seemed genuine enough and she slid her hand through the open window. "I am Ororo Munroe, by the way." 

Millie looked at the woman for a moment, her new suspicions surging forward as she mentally ran through possible other reasons for the woman's offer. They were numerous, but Millie also realized that if they didn't get help they'd likely be sitting in the dark and rain all night and that was even more dangerous than the possibility of aid from a total stranger. And the woman had offered rather than insisting, which were points in the stranger's favor, unless she was particularly clever.

Finally, she took Ororo's hand gingerly. "I'm Millie and this is Jamie. Just, give me a sec." She reached around to the ignition and turned the key. It clicked once, and the lights flickered, but otherwise did nothing. She grumbled and tried again with the same results. Finally, she sighed. "Thanks, I really appreciate what you're doing for us." She grabbed the keys and got out of the car. Jamie climbed out after her before she shut the door.

"It is not a problem." Ororo lead them over to her SUV and reached in for her phone. She double checked to see that it was on and had power before handing it to Millie. Millie thanked her again and reached into her back pocket for her roadside card. As she talked with the operator, she wandered back towards her car to get the mileage information and things from it, turning back to look at her brother and the woman often to make sure Jamie was alright.

Ororo brushed a bit of water off the door of her SUV and leaned against it.

Jamie looked up at her curiously and sniffed quietly as he studied her. "Are you a mutant?" he finally asked.

Ororo looked down at him, one pale eyebrow raised in surprise. "What makes you think that?"

Jamie shrugged. "I've never seen anyone with hair like yours that wasn't my grandma," his tone indicating that wasn’t the reason at all.

"Ah. Well, I am, but I think that from now on you'd better remember that's not a polite or safe thing to ask outright, alright?" Ororo smiled a little and ruffled his hair. “Not all mutants are good, just as not all people are good.”

Jamie reached up to smooth his hair back down, understanding in his young eyes as he looked back towards his sister. "Oh. Okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it." He looked up at Ororo. "We are, too. Mutants, I mean."

"Really? Where were you headed?" the woman asked, glancing over at the young woman who appeared to be getting rather frustrated on the phone.

"The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning." Jamie leaned back against the car and tucked his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. "We got this envelope from Dad in Chicago and it had some money and the maps and stuff in it to show us how to get there."

Millie came over at that moment and handed Ororo her phone. "Thanks, Ms. Munroe. It's going to be like an hour til they can get here, and I hate to hold you up. Jamie and I can just wait in our car for the tow truck. Thanks again for your help." She held out her hand for Jamie. "C'mon Jamie."

Jamie took it and started to walk with Millie but they were stopped by Ororo. "Millie, wait." The young woman stopped and turned as Ororo walked towards them. "Jamie told me you are going to the Xavier Institute, right?"

Millie nodded slowly. "Yeah..."

"I am a teacher at the Institute. You can have your car towed there and I can drive you the rest of the way. It is only a few miles down the road. You had almost made it," Ororo offered.

Millie hesitated, biting her lower lip uncertainly. "I don't..."

Go with her, Amelia. You and James will be safe. A voice said at the back of her head. It wasn't her own voice, she never called herself Amelia, but it was somehow familiar.

Millie hesitated again and Jamie tugged her sleeve. "It's alright, Mil." He told her. "Ms. Munroe's a Mutant, too."

She looked down at Jamie and took a deep breath, praying she wasn't doing the wrong thing. "Alright. If you're sure you don't mind?"

"Not at all. Do you want to go ahead and load up your things?" When Millie nodded, the woman reached into her pocket and pressed a button on the key ring that sprung the lock on the hatch at the back of her vehicle. "Come on. I think the rain might be starting again soon." Jamie grabbed the keys from Millie's hand and ran over to the their car to pop the trunk. Millie followed, still uncertain. She helped Jamie get his suitcase from the car and while he was running around to get his bag and her purse from the front she pulled out her suitcase and laptop bag.

Ororo picked up Jamie's bag just as Millie was reaching for it. "Let me. You two certainly travel light for a cross country trip," she commented as she carried the bag to her car.

"How did-?"

"License plates." Ororo set the bag on the floor of the SUV next to another suitcase.

"Oh, right. I suppose I'm being too suspicious." Millie set her bag in next to Jamie's. Jamie came running around the car with the last of their things.

"Not at all. I would be, too, honestly. We do not live in a safe world, Millie. A little suspicion is good. Just do not allow it to stop you from letting people help you or keep you from helping people." Ororo closed the trunk and started walking around to the front of the car.

Millie watched the woman until she was out of sigh and then leveled a look at Jamie. "You. Are far too trusting."

"And you're too suspicious. She's nice, Millie. She smells right." He took her hand and led her to the passenger side of the car. The rain started to drizzle down again.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just what it says. Good people smell right. Bad people smell wrong. That's why I never stuck around when you had Keith over to watch movies." Jamie smiled. "It makes sense, trust me."

Millie shook her head, not understanding it a bit. "If you say so." She opened the car door and got in as Jamie climbed into the back seat. The rain started again in earnest as she closed the door.

"Excellent timing," Ororo commented as she started the car. She offered Millie the phone. "Do you wish to cancel your tow, or at least tell them where to take it? There is a man at the institute that can pick it up and work on it if you want."

Millie took the phone. The problem with that scenario was that either way she ended up trusting complete strangers. Still, her father had sent her to these people. She even thought she remembered him mentioning an Ororo Munroe at one point, but maybe that was wishful thinking. Then again, Jamie had said she was all right, and since he spent at least half him time in animal form, it made sense. Animal senses were keener than human, so maybe some of that crossed over to when he was shaped like a human. At least, that was the only explanation she could come up with that made even a little bit of sense. She’d never pretended to have any kind of a grip on understanding the x-gene any further than that it made her and her brother different and people often thought different was bad.

"Thanks," she replied as she began dialing the roadside number again to cancel as Ororo pulled out onto the road.

 

****

 

They weren’t on the road very long before Ororo pulled into a driveway. She entered a code into the keypad by the gated entrance and it swung open slowly. The woman drove the SUV up the drive, past a long multi-car garage, and up to a circle drive in front of an enormous mansion.

"Here we are." Ororo put the car into park and turned it off. With a thought she contrived a break in the rain -- she did not want the children to get soaked, though she didn’t normally mess with the weather much unless she had to -- and opened her door. "Let us get inside before it starts again." She opened the trunk once again and pulled out the suitcases. The little boy was first back to get his and then ran up the stairs. He was too young, Ororo supposed, to have his sister's reservations. She closed the trunk and handed Millie her bag. "It is not as scary as it looks," she promised.

“I don’t suppose it could be,” Millie muttered, staring at the enormous, brick affair that stood before her. It would have been difficult to see much of it if it weren’t for the lights illuminating the driveway and the double doors at the top of a cement staircase. As it was, even with those lights, Millie could make out just enough of the frame to realize that it wasn’t a house; it was an estate or a castle or something similarly huge.

Millie followed the other woman up the stairs to the front door where Jamie was already waiting impatiently. Just as they stepped under the awning the rain started again. The trio went inside and Millie stopped short as she got her first look at the entryway. By itself it would have held the small house she’d lived in before moving back in with her father and Jamie a few years ago, and a good portion of the yard the one bedroom house had sat on. The hard wood floors were overlaid with deep red area rugs and the high domed ceiling had a gold and crystal chandelier hanging from the center. Directly in front of her was a wide, wooden staircase, lined in the middle with the same red carpet and lead to a hallway in front of it and two secondary staircases on the sides at the top. Where all that lead was anyone’s guess. There were two halls leading deeper into the mansion on the main level behind the stairs and another pair of doorways to the side walls that presumably lead to yet more wings of the house.

Millie was nothing short of awed. She'd never been in a place so massive or fancy that wasn't a museum. By the expression on his face, Jamie was either just as impressed or wondering how much trouble he'd get into if he tried to fly his remote controlled helicopter in the entry way. Possibly both.

Before Millie could voice her amazement, a short, stocky man with brown hair that stuck up at strange, pointed angles and what must have been a perpetual snarl on his face stalked into the room. Millie nearly swallowed her tongue at the sight of him. This was a man she would not want to meet in a dark alley. Or even in the middle of a crowded square in broad daylight. Just the way he carried himself and what had to be his natural, fall back expression was enough to make the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Every instinct inside her begged her to not draw this man’s attention, even though she was very sure that he was aware of everything and everyone in the room before he’d even come into it.

"Pickin' up strays, 'Ro?" he asked, his voice low and gravelly.

"Hardly. That would mean I have begun to pick up your bad habits," Ororo retorted. "They broke down a few miles down the road." The woman hung her jacket on a coat rack just to the left of the door. "Would you mind finding Bobby and Kurt and going to pick it up?"

"In this rain?" The man shot her a look, then shrugged. "Eh, sure. But only 'cause it's you, 'Ro."

Ororo rolled her eyes. "You are a gem, Logan." Her tone was sarcastic and it was fairly obvious the two ribbed each other like this regularly.

"Yeah. Regular prince charming, that's me." He looked at Millie and Jamie, sniffing suspiciously. Jamie sniffed back, much to the man's surprise. The two eyed each other for a moment, the same way two animals would study each other when deciding how to react to one another, before Logan grunted and turned his attention to Millie. “Ya got keys?” he asked.

Millie swallowed and quickly turned her attention to her purse so she could find them. Her fingers didn’t seem to want to work and it took longer than she liked for her to pull out her key chain and hand them to him.

“Thanks,” he grunted before heading towards one of the halls behind the staircase and disappearing into the shadows.

Ororo shook her head a little as they watched him go. She turned to her guests and had just opened her mouth to speak, possibly to offer some kind of reassurance given how pale Millie was sure she looked, when another voice spoke from behind her.

"Welcome home, Ororo. I trust your visit was enjoyable." The voice was a warm tenor, intelligent and somehow amused. Millie looked over Ororo's shoulder to see a bald man in an electric wheelchair moving towards them. She couldn’t have said what it was, but there was something about this man that made just as much of an impression as Logan had but in an entirely different way. He wasn’t imposing by any stretch of the imagination, not physically at least, but his being was powerful in a different way than that Logan person’s had been. And in some ways more intense.

Ororo smiled warmly at the man. "Most enjoyable. It is hard to believe how much Mjnari has grown. He has already moved from his mother's tent to the young men's tent."

"Wonderful. I'm glad to hear he is doing well." The man stopped his chair a few feet away from them and folded his hands in his lap over the quilt he had covering his legs, presumably to ward off the chill of the rain. "You've brought guests."

"Yes, Professor. This is Millie and Jamie. Their car broke down a few miles down the road," Ororo replied. "Once I learned they were coming here, I offered them a ride."

The man smiled and nodded. He leaned forward and extended his hand to Millie. "It's nice to meet you, Amelia."

Millie hesitated before taking his hand. He gripped her hand warmly for a second before releasing it. "Thank you, sir. Are you Professor Charles Xavier?" she asked, remembering the name from the documents her father had left her.

“I am,” he answered before turning his attention to Jamie. "It's nice to meet you, as well, James." The boy shook his hand, sniffing again, more softly this time. "Your father spoke fondly of both of you."

"You knew our dad?" Jamie asked curiously.

The Professor nodded. "I did. I'll tell you more about it later. Ororo, would you please help our new friends settle into a pair of rooms. I believe Amelia will enjoy the eastern corner bedroom, and James can have the one across the hall from it for now."

"Of course, professor." Ororo reached for Jamie's bag.

The Professor turned his attention back to Millie. "Once you've gotten dried off and settled, Amelia, I'd like you to come to my office. I believe you have something for me."

Millie swallowed and nodded. "Yes, sir." How had he known who they were just based on their first names?

"Very good. I will see you shortly.” Professor Xavier smiled at both them them, a welcoming and almost charming expression, and then turned his chair to go deeper into the house.

Millie watched him go, feeling drained from the encounter on top of the rest of the day. "He's uncanny,” she murmured after a long moment.

"He can be," Ororo chuckled. "Come. I am sure you are eager to get settled." She led the two up the broad stairs in the entryway. Jamie ran after her, but Millie followed a little more slowly, wondering what she'd gotten them into.


	2. Chapter 2

 It did not take Millie long to change into the cleanest, nicest blouse and jeans that she had with her, neither of which were very clean or nice at the moment, really. Getting Jamie tucked into bed was another story. He was as curious as a cat and kept trying to find nooks and crannies in his room and hers to explore. At least he seemed to be taking everything well. They both were, all things considered. A mad dash across half the country didn’t leave much time or energy for grieving. There had been times that Jamie had come to her for comfort during the trip, but now he was consumed with the belief that they could stop for a while. Mille just hoped that turned out to be true.

 

She finally gotten him tucked into bed with a book and the promise that he could read it as long as he wanted and could explore in the morning. As she closed the door to his room, she reminded him that she would be right across the hall when she’d finished talking to the Professor. Then she went to the room she’d been given and walked to the laptop bag that was sitting on the queen sized bed. Inside it she found the large, yellow envelope that was marked “Professor Charles Xavier.” It was still sealed. She hadn’t opened it, even though her curiosity had begged her to numerous times during the nights when she couldn’t sleep. Millie ran her fingers over her father’s handwriting, a single tear falling onto the paper before she’d even realized she’d teared up. She cleared her throat and quickly wiped it off the paper with her thumb. She didn’t have time for that kind of nonsense. She had a meeting to get to. Millie wiped her eyes and turned to her door, wondering how she was supposed to find the professor.

 

She needn’t have wondered. As she opened her door she saw a young man wearing sunglasses walking down the hall. Millie hesitated for a second, but the man didn’t give her a chance to duck back into the room.

 

“Are you Amelia?” he asked. At Millie’s slight, cautious nod, the man offered his hand. “I’m Scott. The Professor asked me to guide you to his office when you were ready to go.”

 

Millie took his hand carefully, noticing it was warm and slightly callused. That was surprising, considering the man was dressed in a sweater and jeans that made him seem more like a prep than someone that worked with his hands a lot. “Umn... thank you. I wasn’t sure how I was going to find it,” she replied as she shook his hand twice and released it.

 

“I don’t blame you. This place is large enough that it seems like someone is always getting lost, even those of us that have lived here for years.” His smile was kind, but a bit patronizing. It was obvious, to Millie at least, that he either expected her to be too shy to know he was being high handed or it was such a habit that he didn’t notice anymore.

 

“Good to know. Shall we?” she asked, ignoring the way his attitude made her want to stiffen her spine and tell him just where he could take his help. She was too tired and just wanted to get this over with so she could crawl into bed. The easiest way to do that was to accept his help.

 

Scott nodded. “Follow me,” he said and turned as though it were a given that she would. Well, Millie supposed that it was, since she’d just agreed to take his assistance. Still, the man’s attitude rankled. Either that or she was so much on edge that everything was bothering her.

 

He lead her through what seemed to be a maze of hallways and staircases before he came to a large door at the end of one hallway. “He’s right in there,” Scott told her. He knocked on the wooden door twice before stepping back. Millie watched the door as though something might come through it to get her, the envelope clutched in her hands.

 

"Come in,” Millie heard the Professor’s smooth, cultured voice came through the door. Scott reached forward to turn the knob and pushed the door open.

 

“Professor? I brought Amelia as you’d asked,” he said as he stepped aside to let Millie into the room.

 

She swallowed hard and smoothed her blouse nervously and patted her damp hair to make sure it had stayed braided. She hoped, futilely, that the blouse and jeans she'd selected didn't look too slovenly, though another part of her mind reminded her that the Professor knew he'd asked her to come before she'd really had a chance to get anything cleaned and wouldn't be expecting her to look expertly put together.

 

She took a deep breath and stepped inside, attempting to project an aura of confidence she didn’t feel. "I'm sorry it took me so long, Professor. Jamie was excited and exhausted, so wouldn't go to sleep."

 

The Professor chuckled softly from his place behind a large wooden desk. "I'm not surprised. It's been an eventful evening for both of you. Please, have a seat." He gestured to one of the leather, wing back chairs in front of his desk. Millie took a tentative seat on the edge of the one on the right while the professor looked at Scott. “Thank you, Scott. I will see you in the morning,” he dismissed the other man.

 

Scott nodded. “Good night, Professor,” he said as he left, closing the door behind him.

 

The professor studied Millie for a long moment and she found it hard not to fidget under his scrutiny. They were both silent for a few moments, the professor considering and Millie waiting for him to tell her why he’d wanted to see her so quickly.

 

Finally, the professor spoke. "Amelia, do you know why your father wanted you to come here?"

 

"He-" She took a deep breath and tried to keep her voice steady. "He wanted me to give you this." She set the envelope on his desk and slid it forward. She watched as the professor opened the envelope and pulled out the folders inside it. While he perused it, Millie found her thoughts drifting inexorably to the last time she'd seen her father.

 

_This wasn't supposed to be happening. This was their home. They were supposed to be safe there. But even as she thought that, more shots rang out, striking the other side brick wall of the walk in pantry and sending sharp pieces crumbling down on top of them. Millie curled around Jamie, trying to protect him._

 

_After what seemed like an age, the shots stopped and she looked up in relief as her father came into view. He yanked the door closed, as though it would really protect them from gun fire, and crouched near their hiding spot. "They're re-loading, Flora. We don't have long. You need to go out the back and up to the shed. There's a car there and I've already got some of your things in it." He pressed her laptop bag into her hand and a key into the other. "Take Jamie. Go to Chicago. There's a safe deposit box at the Memorial Bank and Trust downtown. Everything you'll need is in there."_

 

_They heard the ominous click of a gun echo on the other side of the door that lead to the pantry and basement. Millie looked at her father. "Come with us, Dad."_

 

_"I'm buying you time." He kissed her forehead and ruffled Jamie's hair. "Now, go! I'll draw their fire."_

 

_Millie watched as he opened the door and barreled through the other one, into one of the gunmen, effectively focusing the attackers on him. As soon as the shots started, Millie grabbed Jamie's hand and they ran for the side door that lead outside. She heard the shots as they ran up the stone steps to the upper yard and the shed. As they reached the shed a bullet ricocheted off the corner of the small building and grazed her arm. It felt like fire, and she glanced back to see two of the gunmen firing up at them. She dove into the building and to the old vehicle her father had told her was waiting there. The key fit the ignition and it roared to life. The shed doors were barely open when she gunned the engine and drove away._

 

She closed her eyes tightly against the tears that threatened every time she remembered it. The deposit box had held the envelope, a flash drive, and an envelope of cash. The flash drive had given her instructions, where to take the envelope and where to stay along the way. He'd been planning this a long time. It was like he knew he was going to die.

 

"Do you know what's in here, Amelia?"

 

"Millie," she corrected, wiping at her eye as subtly as she could. "And, no. It wasn't for me. I'm just the delivery girl."

 

"Well, apart from some information that will help me immensely with several mutant rights bills I'm dealing with, he's also included transcripts for you and your brother, medical records, and the paperwork necessary for you to become your brother's legal guardian. And an extensive stock portfolio." He handed her one of the folders. "In short, he's provided everything you will need to begin again and live a comfortable life."

 

Millie looked through the folder, unable to make heads or tails of the stock options enclosed within it. "Oh. I see." She murmured, swallowing against a lump in her throat. "He knew this would happen?"

 

"I think it's better to say that he suspected something like it might, but hoped it wouldn't. Do you know what your father was doing?"

 

"Something with mutant rights. I know there was a bill in Nebraska that was their own version of mutant registration that included mandatory testing and trying to make it illegal for mutants to marry or have children." She closed the folder and set it on the desk.

 

"Yes, and because of your father's lobbying it barely made it through the doors of the local senate. He's done a lot to help the mutant cause, which is why the Friends of Humanity targeted him."

 

"Friends of Humanity?"

 

"An anti-mutant terrorist organization. They're the ones that attacked your home and, I believe, attempted to frame you for your father's murder, even though his body hasn't been recovered."

 

"They what?!" Millie gasped, her head spinning at the implication. She gripped the arms of her chair and tried to stop her head from buzzing, barely hearing it as the professor tried to calm her. She was wanted for her father’s death. She hadn’t ever gotten so much as a parking ticket and she was wanted for murder. Oh, god... this couldn’t be happening. What had happened to turn her life so completely upside down? She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think beyond the circle of thoughts that begged for answers.

 

Finally, after what seemed like hours but was probably only a few moments, she heard a voice, as clear as anything, inside her head, calm and soothing.

 

 _/You must calm down, Amelia. Please, before you turn my office into a jungle./_ Millie focused on his voice and slowly the buzzing receded and she was able to see clearly again.

 

"That's better." He patted her hand, and Millie realized that he'd come around to her side of the desk. She looked around and realized that all of the plants in his office had sprung into full bloom and some had gotten bigger. "While my day lily has never looked better, I think we'd better keep from any further outbursts." He smiled and squeezed her hand comfortingly.

 

"Yes... I'm sorry. I just- I can't believe I'm wanted for my father's murder."

 

"You're not. The detective that they got in said that there was no way you could have done all that damage on your own with a young boy in tow, to say nothing of hiding a body so completely that there's been no sign of it." He sat back in his chair and wheeled it back to a more comfortable speaking distance. Professor Xavier had his own suspicions about what had happened to his friend's body, but it wasn't the time to voice them to Amelia. "And the handwriting sample that they got from your room to compare to the note didn't match up. It was an obvious forgery. In fact, it was a rather sloppy attempt." He frowned thoughtfully. "But, the point is, you're not a suspect."

 

Millie nodded and ran her hands over her face. After a moment she looked up at him. "That was you in my head."

 

"Yes, I needed to get you calmed down. It was the only way you could hear me at that point. You panicked and blocked out everything else."

 

"No. Not now." Millie shook her head. "Earlier tonight. In the street when Ororo was offering us a ride. You told me it was safe to go with her. I know it wasn't me because I never call myself Amelia and it didn't sound like me. It was you."

 

The professor nodded. "I admit I did hope to encourage you to come here." He at least had the courtesy to look somewhat abashed at his behavior.

 

"And that's how you knew who we were in the foyer just based on our first names. You've been rooting around in my head!" She tried to muster a glare, but feared it might have appeared more tired than angry.

 

"Not at all. I haven't uncovered any secrets, Amelia, nor have I gone hunting through your memories. I merely projected my thoughts to you in that moment." He leaned back in his chair. "As for how I knew it was you, I knew you would be coming here as soon as I heard of the attack. Your father has been in contact with me for some time, though I admit we never met in person. When he was setting up the plans and arrangement for you and your brother to get to safety, he contacted me for assistance. He showed me pictures so I would know you when I saw you, and explained your abilities to me." He looked at her, his face serious. "I apologize if you feel that is a breech of privacy, and I realize it is, but I did it for your father."

 

Millie sighed. Her father had really thought of everything, hadn't he? "You never met him?"

 

"Not in person, no. Though we did speak over the phone and Internet on a number of occasions. I knew him as well as a person can under those circumstances and considered him a friend. And Amelia, you need to know, you were the one that inspired him."

 

She looked at him, confused. "I what?"

 

"You're the reason he went into legislative law and started fighting for mutant rights. He had been a very successful state prosecutor before then, but when your mother shunned you he decided to take action the best way he knew how. He's been working for mutant civil liberties, mostly in the background, for more than 10 years. After he and your mother divorced, he started speaking to the capitol in Nebraska for mutant rights. " The professor leaned forward again and took her hand into his. "He never mentioned you or your brother, that would have put you in danger, but you and your brother were what inspired your father to work for mutant rights. You two, in a way, became the faces for mutant rights in Nebraska."

 

Millie swallowed hard and pulled her hand back and looked down at the floor. "I didn't know. I mean, I just always thought... I can't remember a time when he wasn't lobbying for mutant rights. We talked about it, but he never really told me why he was doing it. And I didn't think- Why didn't he tell me?"

 

"I don't know. Maybe he thought you knew." Charles cat back in his chair and folded his hands carefully in his lap. "I thought you'd like to know why your father had been working so hard for his cause.

 

"It's getting late. Let’s continue our talk tomorrow. You're exhausted and have much more to think on now than you did."

 

Millie nodded and stood. "Alright. Thank you, professor."

 

"You're welcome. Oh, before I forget, do you know how to read that stock portfolio?"

 

"Not a bit." She shook her head as everything caught up with her.

 

"I know someone that can probably help you make sense of it if you don't mind me showing it to someone."

 

"Ah, no, that's fine. I appreciate it. Good night, sir."

 

"Good night, Amelia. I'm glad you made it."

 

Millie nodded and walked out of the office. She barely remembered getting to her guest room, but was glad she managed. As she changed into her night clothes, she was certain that despite how tired she was, her mind wouldn't let her sleep.

 

She was mistaken and as soon as her head hit the unfamiliar pillow she began dreaming.

 

****

 

_The dreams always started like this. She was in her favorite pajamas, the green flannel ones with the kittens and flowers printed on them, with her feet tucked into her dark green house shoes and her robe thrown over it all. Her hair was loose about her shoulders and slightly damp as though she'd just showered. She was curled in the wide outdoor rocker on the back deck of their house with a cup of tea cradled in her hands that she sipped as she stared at the sky. Without looking, she knew her father would be sitting in a chair next to her in a pair of well worn jeans and old concert t-shirt. His longish, dark hair would be tied back at the nape of his neck and he'd have an open Harps beer in his right hand. Even though he was dressed like a retired rock star, there was an air of authority about him. It was the same air that made people pay attention to him when he spoke in court or to the House._

 

_She felt more than saw him take a drink of his beer and she raised her mug to her lips to sip it automatically. Chamomile. Her favorite._

 

_"So, you've made it. Thank goodness," her father said, his voice deep and powerful. "I was afraid that you wouldn't get there in time."_

 

_"We almost didn't. The car broke down five miles away from the Institute. It was only luck, really, that Ms. Munroe was headed out to the store and stopped to pick us up." She shifted in her seat._

 

_"Ororo's a good woman."_

 

_"She seems to be, but I wasn't going to trust her at first. It was only because I needed to get Jamie out of the rain that I trusted her at all." She paused. "Why did you want us to come here? This whole month, all you've been doing is telling me we had to get here, had to hurry. Why here? And how did you know that something was going to happen enough to prepare everything in advance like you did?"_

 

_"The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning is a school for mutants, Flora. Charles must have told you that much already." He looked over at her, his green eyes warm. "Perhaps I should have sent you and Jamie here years ago, when I first learned about it, but by then you were too old for high school and I didn't want to uproot Jamie after the divorce. He'd already lost one parent, and being sent off to a boarding school so soon after would have been akin to losing another. And I didn't want to lose either of you after losing your mother and Peter." He looked at her. "Was I wrong, Flora? Should I have sent you two here when I first learned of it?"_

 

_Millie shook her head. "No. I hate that you were killed, daddy, but I wouldn't trade these last three years of being with you and Jamie for anything. And neither would he." She took another drink of her tea. "But how did you know to have everything ready? It's like you knew they were going to attack."_

 

_He took a deep breath. "I suppose I should have told you this years ago. I'm a mutant, Flora. I've got a touch of pre-cognitive abilities and some telepathy. That's how I'm able to communicate to you now."_

 

_"But, you're dead, Dad. You have to be. There's no way you could have survived that attack." She swallowed hard and looked at him. "Is there?"_

 

_"Just remember that sometimes, things are not as they seem." He reached over and cupped her cheek in his hand. It felt warm and real against her skin, even though it was only a dream. "And I'm so glad you made it. I love you. Now, wake up."_


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay in updating. Life kinda went wonky for a bit and writing went splat.

Millie woke up to the sun shining over her head and burrowed deeper into the blankets, her sore mind and body begging for just a little more time in the blissful darkness of sleep. However, her better judgement, or a long habit of waking up fairly early, had other plans. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was after 8. She groaned quietly. Fine, time to get up.  
   
Unlike some people, she didn't have the amnesiac moment of thinking she was somewhere else or not remembering what had happened. She remembered everything. It was too bad. The peace that a few moments of forgetfulness would have given her would have been nice.  
   
Millie sighed and sat up, looking around the room. It was very nice. The bed was big enough that she could sprawl and window that the sun was shining through was actually a pair of french doors leading to a small stone balcony, framed by sheer curtains. There was another window in the other wall with coordinated dressings. A small writing desk sat in the corner between the two windows and a dresser with a mirror was along the wall next to the doors.  
   
Millie pushed back the blankets and went to the balcony. The stone was cold on her bare feet as she stepped out, but she wanted a look around. What she saw caused her to pull in her breath sharply in surprise.  
   
The grounds were extensive and everything a gardener, or a young woman with an affinity for plants, could want. There were flowers and bushes close to the house and trees farther out and everything was covered in lush green grass. And she couldn't see where it ended. She could hear children, running and playing somewhere on the grounds, but they weren't where she could see them. Below her to the left, Ororo was walking the grounds with a small storm cloud that followed her like a puppy watering all the plants.  
   
Millie shook her head a little. This place was too good to be true. I suppose it's time to go find out the bad news. It's not like they'll let us stay on indefinitely. But, maybe for a little bit at least. She sighed and went to her suitcase and pulled out her second cleanest set of clothes and her bathroom bag.  
   
Twenty minutes later she was knocking at Jamie's door. "Jamie. Time to get up." There was no answer. She frowned and opened the door. "Jamie?" The bed was empty and unmade, and about half of his suitcase was strewn about the floor. "Jamie, are you hiding? This isn't funny." She spoke to the empty room, trying to quell the surge of fear that had reached up to clutch her stomach.  
   
She turned to run out of the room and ended up running right into someone that hadn't been there a moment ago. "Oh god, I'm sorry, I wasn't loo..." she trailed off as she got a good look at who she'd run into. He was blue, furry, and had a tail. The hair on his head, which was longer than what was on his body, was sticking up at all angles. His hands and long, bare feet only had three wide fingers and toes on them.   
   
"Many apologies, Fraulein." His voice was accented heavily with a German accent. He smiled and bowed. "I did not mean to run eento you. I am Kurt Wagner. Also known as ze Incredible Nightcrawler." He bowed with at flourish, glancing up at her with a wink, before straightening and holding his hand out for hers.  
   
Millie blinked at the hand for a full second before timidly reaching for his hand. "I'm Millie Bartholomew. Nice to meet you." Ok. He was a mutant, just like her. Nothing freaky. Ok, nothing too freaky. Except... he was blue.  
   
"Ahh! Ze car girl!"  
   
"Car girl?"  
   
"You are ze one zat Ms. Munroe brought een last night whose car broke down, right?"  
   
"Ye-es..."  
   
"I helped Logan bring eet een. Und, oh boy, you should have heard Logan vhen he got a look under ze hood last night." His grin was infectious. "You vill be extremely lucky eef he gives eet back to you vhen he gets done with eet."  
   
"In my defense I've barely been using that car for a month, and I was running for my life."  
   
"Really?" Kurt's ears literally perked in interest. "Zis I must hear! Oh! But first, I vas sent by ze professor to find you. He said not to vorry about James because he has had breakfast und ees een class right now, und zat you need to be een his office by 10 to meet vith him and ze broker."  
   
"Oh, wow, really? Jamie's in class? Willingly?" Millie couldn't believe how efficient this all was. It was almost suspicious except... her father had trusted the Professor. Why else would he have told her to come here?  
   
"Oh, he vas enzralled vhen I left him. He ees een Dr. McCoy's elementary biology und chemistry class right now. I zink eet ees stink bomb day. Und eef eet ees not, Dr. McCoy vill find un excuse to make eet stink bomb day because zere ees a student een ze class zat has not made one." Kurt offered her his arm. "Now, shall I escort you to breakfast, Fraulein?"  
   
"Umn... that would be nice, thank you. I'm afraid I have no idea where the kitchen is." Millie did not take his offered arm, but instead gestured for him to lead on. 

Kurt grinned mischievously at her. "My vay ees easier. Vant to go for a ride?"  
   
"A what?"  
   
"Vatch." He took her hand and they disappeared from where they were with a 'bamf!' and appeared in the kitchen.  
   
Millie sank into a chair at the table they'd landed next to as she waited for her head to stop spinning. "What in God's name was that?"  
   
"A teleport! Ze only vay to travel!" He cocked his head to one side and frowned. "Are you alright?"  
   
"Umn, yeah. Just a little dizzy. Can I have a bit of warning next time?" She looked at him ruefully and reached up to tuck back a bit of hair.  
   
"Oh, ja, sure. Sorry." Kurt went to the sink and reached into the cabinet for a glass. He filled it with water and brought it over to her. "Here. Zis vill help."   
   
She took the glass with a quiet thanks and sipped it slowly. A few minutes later she was feeling better and her appetite was returning. "Sorry about that."  
   
"Eet ees my fault. I get carried avay sometimes und forget zat not everyone ees as used to teleporting as I am." He clapped his hands together. "Now, breakfast. Ze kitchen ees open to eweryone, just clean up after yourself. Zose are house rules."  
   
Millie nodded and stood to go over to the fridge and see what was available. There appeared to be several pre-portioned plates of left over breakfast and she opted for one of those. She removed the plastic and put it in the microwave. "So, how many people live here?" she asked as she set the timer.  
   
"At any giwen time? Between 25 und 60, counting teachers und residents." Kurt did a quick teleport and appeared on the counter. "Students are ze hardest to keep around."  
   
"Really? I'd think that they'd all be glad to be in a place where they don't have to hide their abilities. I know I would have killed for that kind of chance." She started looking for a mug for coffee, checking the cabinets until she found it.  
   
"Some go back home. Ve get a lot uf runavays. Ozers just decide zey don't vant to follow ze rules." Kurt grabbed an apple from the bowl with his tail.  
   
Millie poured her coffee just as the microwave dinged. "I guess that makes sense." She pulled her breakfast from the microwave. "So, are you student or teacher?"  
   
"Neizer. I am but a humble resident." He grinned at her. "But I help out vith keeping ze place maintained und zey've currently got me on duty as resident enforcer een ze boys dorms."  
   
She nodded and took her breakfast to the table. She'd almost sat down before remembering she needed silverware. "Which drawer are the forks in?"  
   
"Two down from ze dishvasher on ze left." Kurt answered from around a mouthful of apple. Millie grabbed her silverware and went to sit at the table. "So, vhat brought you here?"  
   
"My dad told me to bring Jamie here." She said evasively as she spread butter on her three small pancakes.  
   
"Vhat about zat running for your life you mentioned?" he asked curiously.  
   
Millie swallowed and set her knife aside, her appetite suddenly gone. "...yeah."  
   
Kurt muttered something under his breath that sounded German. "I am sorry, Millie. Sometimes I do not zink before I speak. Obviously, eef you vere running for your life you might not vant to talk about eet. I vill just shut up now."  
   
Millie looked over at him. "No, it's fine. It's just... I haven't quite processed everything that's happened. It's been a hell of a month."  
   
"Take all ze time you need to process. Forget I asked anyzing. See, I am nozing but a fuzzy paperveight here on ze counter. Or a blue fruit bowl." He emphasized each change by striking a different pose. "I am not here."  
   
Millie couldn't help herself. She giggled at his antics. At least he wasn't going to press her for information. "Alright. Thanks." She smiled at him and went back to her breakfast before it got cold.  
   
"Can I ask vhat your mutant pover ees, at least?" Kurt asked after a few moments of silence.  
   
"Umn... plants, I guess, is the best way to explain it," she replied after swallowing a bite of sausage. "I'm kind of attuned to them. I can make them grow a little and I know when they're sick or need water or to be re-potted. Stuff like that."  
   
"Vow. Can you make zem grow een rapid succession? Like poof! Insta-plant?" Kurt propped himself up on his tail, his expression telling Millie he really was interested in learning about her power.  
   
"Umn, not really. I mean, only when I get upset. I tend to lose control then and plants just sort of explode around me." She took a sip of coffee, grimacing a little at the strong taste. "Oh, god. Who made this coffee? It tastes like motor oil."

"Ah, zat vould mean zat Logan made eet. He likes eet strong enough to take ze lining off your stomach und zick enough to double as axle grease." Kurt teleported to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of flavored creamer. He took it over to the table and set it down for her. "Mix a little of zat een. Or a lot. Eet helps."

Millie chewed a bit of egg while she doctored the coffee and then took another sip, more hesitant this time. "You're right. That is better. So, what are your powers then? Just the teleporting?"

"Und ze obwious physical enhancements zat make me irresistible." He waggled his bushy, blue eyebrows at her teasingly.

Millie laughed. She liked him. He was entertaining and made her feel at ease here in a way that she wasn't sure would have happened otherwise. "So, I see." She glanced at the clock on the microwave and stood. "Shoot. I'm going to be late."

Kurt looked over his shoulder. "Ja, you are. Here, since you are new, I'll take care uf your dishes zis time. Just remember my kindness vhen you get on ze chore rotation."

Millie smiled and nodded. "I will. Thanks, Kurt!" And she dashed out of the kitchen.

Kurt watched her go, then started counting backwards. "Und 3... 2... 1..." Just as he said one, Millie poked her head back into the kitchen.

"Umn, which way to the Professor's office?"

"Go right down ze hall to ze sitting room, zen left zrough eet, und all ze vay to ze end. Eet ees ze big wooden door on ze right."

"Right, left, right. Got it. Thanks, Kurt!" And she disappeared again.

****

Millie found the office without incident and knocked quietly on the door at 10 on the dot. She opened it when she heard the Professor invite her in, and stepped into the office. The professor was sitting at his desk and a blond man was sitting in one of the chairs thumbing through a folder until she walked in. He was impeccably dress in a suit and tie and stood politely when he saw her.

"Ah, good morning, Amelia," Professor Xavier greeted as she closed the door behind her. "Perfect timing. Warren and I were just going over the stock portfolio your father left you."

"Good morning, Professor." She nodded in greeting and took a few, slow steps further into the room.

"Please, take a seat. Amelia, this is Warren Worthington III. Warren, this is one of our newest arrivals, Amelia Bartholomew," the professor introduced the two of them officially as Millie sat down.

Millie managed not to blink owlishly at the blond man. The Warren Worthington was the professor's broker friend? And he'd come out here on the professor's whim to look at her father's stock folder? Fortunately, she recovered quickly enough that the shock might have gone unnoticed, and regained enough composure to extend her hand to him. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Worthington."

He took it and clasped it briefly, his palm warm and dry against hers. It's what her father would have regarded the hand of a confidant man. "And you, Ms. Bartholomew." He sat back down once Millie was situated. "I've been going over the stocks that your father bought, and I must admit I am impressed. He either had a very good broker or was very good at picking the right companies to buy from."

"Really? I never even knew that he had anything invested." Millie leaned forward to look at the folder. She was starting to wonder how much more she didn't know about her father. He seemed to have kept a lot from her.

"He's been investing for years. Since the mid to late 80s at least, probably dabbling before that. And always the right companies." He handed her a few stock folders, one read "Worthington Industrial" and another "Stark Enterprises" and a third was for Amazon.com. From what she could see there were several more still inside the folder. "There are a few investments for companies that didn't pan out, but it almost appears as if they were more of a red herring, as though he wanted to invest poorly every so often so no one would catch on." Warren looked at Millie and smiled. "In short, your father was wasted on legal and government work and should have been taking Wall Street for all its worth."

Something nagged at the back of Millie’s mind as Warren mentioned her father’s ability to invest with all the right companies. A dream that felt like a distant memory, of her father telling her he was a mutant. She dismissed the thought. "He enjoyed his work," Millie retorted, mildly offended at Warren’s suggestion that her father should have been more focused on personal profit. "And what he was doing was very important."

"Oh, I agree." Warren took her affronted manner in stride. "I was speaking from a strictly financial perspective, not a humanitarian one."

"Money isn't everything." Millie bristled a little. Worthington's cocksure attitude was pricking her in all the wrong ways.  
   
"No, but it helps make everything else a little easier," he countered, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Tell me, what were you planning to do if this didn't pan out? A young woman with a little boy to support."

Millie clenched her fists in her lap as he mentioned one of the many things she'd feared this entire month. She glared at him and set her mouth in a stubborn line. "I'd have gotten a job and made it work. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself and Jamie. I'm sure it's difficult to see from inside your ivory tower, your highness, but people do it all the time and manage just fine."

"Hardly. They survive, certainly, but it's hardly what I'd call living. Do you really think you could have done it? All alone without daddy to catch you when you fall?"  
   
Millie shot him a hard look. Rich business magnate or not, she wasn't about to let him get away with treating her as like some idiotic twit with no grasp on what was going on. She'd been through too much that month to take shit from anyone, especially not a wealthy playboy who'd been born with not only a silver spoon but whole damn flatware set in his mouth. "If you think that all I am is some prissy little girl that relied on Daddy for everything, you can leave. I take care of myself and my brother just fine."  
   
"And you've been doing such a good job, driving him around in a broken down heap of a car and taking rides from strangers. Very safe. Well done." Warren's voice was thick with sarcasm.

"It got us here, didn't it?" she shot back. "I may have preferred to do things differently, but at least we got where we were going."

"Well, aren't you lucky. What happens when that luck runs out? What do you do then?"

"I'll keep going." She clenched her hand into a fist before she gave into the desire to reach over and slap him into next month. "Maybe I am lucky, but stop making it sound as though I spend my life taking stupid chances. You don't know a thing about what Jamie and I have gone through to get here. It might be easy for you to sit and condemn my actions and my choices, but there was nothing easy about making them."  
   
"Warren." The professor spoke before the man could retort. "I asked you here to educate Amelia about her stock portfolio, not provoke her."  
   
Warren straightened his spine and adjusted his tie. "Of course, Professor. I apologize." It was impossible to tell if he was apologizing to Millie or the professor, but Millie suspected it wasn't to her. "As I was saying: your father has provided enough in these stock options that you will be able to provide for yourself and your brother for a very long time, including college for both of you. There is a life insurance policy, as well, but I’m afraid that it will take some time to get the company to pay out, if they will, given the circumstances of your father’s death." 

The words weren’t unkind, but they were a hard truth and Millie forced herself to take them as such. In this, she could tell, that he was being a professional, even if he had been a prick a few moments ago. 

Warren closed the folder and offered it to Millie so she could look through it. She took it and began to page through some of the documents, even though she didn’t understand a bit of it. "If you like, I can handle the brokerage of them for you or give you the number of someone I trust to handle them."  
   
Millie eyed him suspiciously for a moment. She got the feeling that he might be a spoiled brat, but he was nothing but fair in his business dealings. "If I can trust you, you can handle it," she told him finally, her expression stating that she didn't trust or like him in the slightest.   
   
"He handles the investment interests for the Institute, Amelia. He's perfectly capable and trustworthy when it comes to business. It's his interpersonal habits that need work,” the   
Professor replied, exchanging an unreadable glance with Warren. Millie nodded and handed the folder back to Mr. Worthington, who slid them into his briefcase. 

"Thank you, Amelia. If you don't mind, Warren and I have some other matters to attend to. Your brother should be on a class break about now. Why don't you go see how he's acclimating?" Charles suggested, his tone not unkind but obviously not wishing for her to linger. Her questions about her future at the mansion would have to go unanswered for now.  
   
Millie nodded and stood, finding that, even though she had questions she was grateful that the professor wasn't going to make her hang around while the Worthington was there. "Alright. Thank you, Professor. Mr. Worthington."  
   
It didn't escape her notice that Warren stood politely when she did and stayed standing until she closed the door behind her.  
   
****  
   
Warren looked at Charles and raised an eyebrow. The professor waited until he sense Amelia was gone before speaking. "Thank you, Warren."  
   
He nodded. "You're welcome. Mind telling me why exactly you wanted me to get her riled?" He leaned back, careful to not crush his wings -- which were hidden under his blazer -- too horribly. Bent feathers hurt like hell.  
   
"I needed to find out if she had any temper. Last night was a bad night to tell, because she was tired and waspish anyway, or should have been. But she was merely suspicious and resigned. Today, after a good night's sleep and breakfast with Kurt she was feeling a little happier, so it was easier to find out."  
   
Warren raised an eyebrow. "And why do you need to know that?"  
   
"First, it's a good indicator of just how much control she has over her abilities. Since the room didn't burst into bloom when she was angry like it did when she was upset last night, I'd say she has a relatively good level of control, though not perfect by any means."  
   
"Or a fairly small amount of power," Warren pointed out, crossing one leg over his knee. "She just may not have the ability to do more than the occasional outburst. Low level abilities are more common than the higher ones, Charles. What's the second?"

Charles sighed and steepled his fingers. "I needed to see if she had the right temperament to fight." He pulled a small electronic device, no larger than a button with a red LED on the top of it, from inside his pocket. "Logan found this in her car. It's a tracking device. Logan deactivated it before coming here, but the Friends of Humanity have been, presumably, tracking their movements since they left their home, or very nearly. I'm going to have to enroll her and her brother into sessions with Logan whether they like it or not."  
   
Warren leaned forward to pick up the device and examined it closely. "I'd think that after what they've been through, they wouldn't mind a bit of self defense training."  
   
"Her brother certainly won't mind. And while I believe that Amelia won't deny that it's necessary, I'm still not entirely certain if she'll be able to do it."  
   
"She will," Warren said with absolute certainty as he handed the tracking device back to the Professor.  
   
Charles cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow, interested in Warren's opinion of Amelia's capabilities. "You sound very sure of that assessment, Warren."  
   
"She was going to slap me. You could see it on her face. She wanted to beat the hell out of me. I should be demanding hazard pay from you," he replied jokingly, making Charles chuckle quietly. "Besides, hens and their chicks." Warren shrugged. "Anything threatens Jamie, she'll fight to the death to protect him with whatever she has at hand. It's the same reason she got so angry when I insulted her father and her ability to take care of her brother. She's a nurturer, and those can be deadly when you threaten their family or anyone in their care."  
   
"Hmn... you may be right. I hadn't thought of that angle." Charles frowned thoughtfully. It was unusual for him to not think of every possible angle, though not unheard of. "I'll have to keep that in mind."  
   
Warren nodded. "Was there anything else you needed me for? If not, I'd like to stretch my wings in the Danger Room before I go back to the office."  
   
"Go ahead. Just be sure you're finished before Logan's noon class."  
   
Warren stood. "I'll be back in a few days to give Ms. Bartholomew an update on her portfolio." The two men shook hands and Warren headed for the Danger Room.

It was a shame that Miss Bartholomew thought so poorly of him now, really. Warren had thought she was rather pretty, especially when she'd been so angry, with the color rising in her cheeks and fire in her blue eyes. Oh, well. It wasn't like Warren was particularly looking for that brand of trouble anyway. He had enough on his plate without chasing skirts, though it made his inner college frat boy cringe to rank anything but partying over getting a girl. The price of actually growing up, he supposed. Oh how the mighty have fallen, he thought sarcastically at himself as he punched in the elevator code for the lower levels of the Institute.  
   
****  
   
Millie stormed down to the back yard, not sure entirely where she was going until she'd gotten there. The nerve of that... that--! Oh! She couldn't even think of the words, she was so angry. Her fists clenched tightly, she stalked the gardens looking for a place to just cool off. She knew she should go check on Jamie, but right now she couldn't. She was still to upset. And wondering if she had messed up and done the wrong things. But... she'd gotten them here, hadn't she? Safely and with the information their father had wanted her to pass on intact. Jamie was in school again and he wasn't any worse for the wear and-- 

Warren was wrong. He had to be. There was no way she could have done things any other way. And if he didn't approve, well, that was his problem.  
   
Jerk. Mega-jerk. Biggest jerk of all time.  
   
"Millie!"   
   
She jerked a bit as the sound of someone calling her name pulled her out of her angry, mental tirade. She suppressed a sigh and turned to the voice. ‘Not in the mood’ didn't even begin to cover how she felt at the moment. 

Ororo smiled as she approached at a regal, sedate pace. "Is everything all right?" she asked softly. 

Ororo wasn’t in the garden by accident. Charles had asked her to come down and check on the girl after explaining the situation. Ororo was going to have words with that man about what was and wasn't appropriate when it came to getting a feel for people. She loved Charles like her own father, but sometimes he made the worst decisions when it came to dealing with people. Which was rather odd for a telepath.  
   
"More or less." She answered, pushing her hair back from her face. "Well, except that my broker is a complete asshole."  
   
"Ah, you have met Warren." Ororo chuckled quietly as she sat on a stone bench with the same grace as a queen on her throne. Millie had to wonder if the woman ever made a move that wasn't elegant and poised. Even out in the rain the night before the woman had moved with the same unconscious elegance normally attributed to royalty or dancers. "Do not let him bother you, Millie. He is a good man that sometimes has a bad case of speaking before he thinks, as all men do," she confided conspiratorially.   
   
Millie wrapped her arms around herself and pressed her lips together. She wanted to believe Ororo, she really did, but it seemed like everything that was happening was too good to be true, including a calming conversation with a woman that Millie knew she could very easily come to like. 

"Maybe, but everything sounded very well thought out from where I was sitting," she muttered as she remembered the way the Worthington had thrashed the way she was taking care of her brother.  
   
"What did he say?" Ororo asked, studying the girl's posture, trying to get a sense of her. It was harder than it should have been. She seemed very contradictory. On the one hand, she came off as very quiet and uncertain, a bit like a terrified rabbit that would jump at the slightest provocation. But there had to be courage and strength in her, too. If there weren't she wouldn't have made the journey with her brother like she had, or stood up to Warren like she had.   
   
Millie hesitated, then shook her head. She wasn't going to complain to a complete stranger. "It doesn't matter. He's an idiot that doesn't know what he's talking about." She looked out at the landscaping. "Did you plant all of this?"  
   
Ororo raised her eyebrow at the not-exactly-subtle change of subject. "Most. We did have to hire some professional landscapers to do the heavy work, but since they've gone I've planted and tended them, primarily. Some of the students trade off lawn mowing duties with the tractor."  
   
"They're lovely.” Millie looked around at the garden, admiring the flowers and the plants. She’d only ever dreamed of being able to have a garden like this. “If- I mean, I could... if you wanted..." she stammered nervously and stopped herself, thinking very stern things at her lack of confidence. It wasn't like she was asking anything big. She was offering to help if she needed it. That's all. It wasn't like she was asking for a kidney or something. Besides, she'd just yelled down the biggest asshole of all time in the office of her father's friend. This should not be difficult. Then again, this was asking for something she really wanted, not just defending herself from the poor assumptions of another. "If you need some help, I'd be happy to give you a hand," she finally managed.  
   
Ororo smiled. "That would be wonderful, thank you. They do get to be a bit of a handful between trying to take care of them properly and teach my classes. Feel free to come out whenever you want. There is also an indoor garden on the top level of the mansion that you are welcome to work in." She checked her watch. "And I am sorry, Millie, but I have a class in five minutes. Will you be alright?"  
   
She nodded. "Yes. I think I'll just stay out here for a while."  
   
"Alright. I will see you later." Ororo stood and started to walk away. Then she paused and looked back at Millie. "I am glad you and your brother made it here." She walked towards the house, leaving Millie somewhat stunned in the middle of the garden.


	4. Chapter 4

It didn't take Jamie long to settle in at the school. By the end of the week he was moving his things into the boys dormitory to share a room with two boys who had taken him under their collective wings. Jamie was the youngest boy there, but that didn't seem to deter him from going out and making all the friends that he could. His openness and outgoing nature made him fit right in with the other students and his shape-shifting ability made him a popular playmate.

Millie wished she could say the same for herself. She was getting settled in, certainly, but she still felt off. It was hard to believe that she'd gotten used to running after only a month, but that's what it felt like. She should be going somewhere, trying to get away from an invisible something that was hot on her heels. Just staying in one place seemed like a recipe for disaster.

Friday afternoon found her sitting between the roots of a large tree, wondering just what it was she was supposed to do now. She pulled a seed out of her pocket and, after pressing it into the ground, she focused her powers on the spot and slowly urged the flower to grow in front of her. After a few moments it began to sprout under her hand and slowly get larger. It hadn't grown more than a foot when she stopped, sweating and just a little pale. The plant had a few leaves, but no blooms, and it's woody stem was decidedly fragile looking. She sighed, wishing her abilities were more impressive, but really the most she could do was to make a bud bloom on an already established plant. Anything she tried to grow from scratch just ended up too weak to manage on its own.

"Not bad," came a voice along with the sound of clapping hands.

Millie looked up to see the worthy Worthington standing about ten feet away and she bit back a groan. What was he doing here?

He stepped forward into the shade of her tree and Millie saw that he was dressed just as impeccably as he had been the other day when she'd met him, though his hair was slightly mussed from the breeze. "May I have a seat?"

Millie shrugged and focused on her plant again, this time making it recede back into its seed stage. Taking them back was always easier than growing, and it was kinder to put them back into a form where they might have a chance to survive.

She felt more than saw him take a seat next to her, not too close, but within speaking distance. "What do you want?" she asked as she dug the seed back up from the ground.

Warren leaned back on his hands and pretended to think about the question. "World peace, for my company's quarter to put us in the black again, a really, really good cheeseburger, the kind you see on TV, and..." He trailed off consideringly. "Oh! Right. I want my two front teeth. Put a good word in with the big guy for me?" He grinned winningly at her, earning a snort.

"Riiiiight," Millie replied, drawing out the word to voice her lack of amusement and disinterest. She leaned back against the tree trunk and contrived to look uninterested. It was harder than it should have been, honestly. Despite the fact that he was an asshole, she had to admit to herself that he was nice to look at and there was something magnetic about his personality that made her want to talk to him anyway, especially given the way he was trying to be relaxed and tease her. Which ended up making her disgusted with herself, and she turned that on him. "Anything else?"

"...to apologize?"

That got her attention. She looked at him quizzically. "What? Really? You know how to do that?" she asked, her voice holding the bitter edge of sarcasm.

"I probably deserve that," Warren said slowly. "I think. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the other day. Charles caught me at a bad time and unfortunately I took it out on you." He ran a hand through his hair, attempting to comb back a couple of strands that had fallen annoyingly close to his eyes. "I know it's no excuse, but I am sorry. I was hoping that maybe you could be persuaded to give me a second chance. Particularly since you did hire me to help you with your accounts?"

Millie eyed him skeptically and he smiled hopefully. The expression was strangely like the one Jamie assumed when he wanted something. And usually she had a hard time not giving into him when he gave her that look. "...I can't believe I'm giving into puppy eyes from anyone but my brother," she muttered.

"Excuse me, but I do not resort to puppy eyes," Warren retorted hotly.

"Right. The wide eyes, the hopeful smile. It's totally the puppy face!" she insisted, feeling a grin spread across her lips despite herself.

Warren chuckled softly. "Well, then, since you don't want to be unintentionally manipulated, I'll do this properly. Give me your hand." Warren sat up and brushed his palms against each other to get the bits of grass and dirt off of them. His expression turned solemn as he looked at her and held out his hand for hers, but there was a hint of mirth in his eyes. Millie hesitated before placing her hand in his, just knowing she was going to regret this. "Miss Amelia Bartholomew. Please accept these most solemn of apologies for my previous behavior and malignation of your character of a few days ago. I am truly, truly ashamed of myself and can only pray that you will be able to find it in your generous heart to forgive me." He looked at her imploringly.

Millie frowned. "Is malignation even a word?"

Warren sighed dramatically and attempted to appear long-suffering. “You’re ruining the moment.”

“Alright, alright. I forgive you. Can I have my hand back?" she asked, giving it a little tug.

Warren gripped it for a second and placed a light kiss on the back of her knuckles before releasing it. "Thank you, gracious lady. You are truly magnanimous."

Millie pulled her hand back, eyeing him curiously.

"What?"

"You are strange."

"Let you in on a secret: most of us around here are." He sprawled out on the grass and tucked his hands behind his head. "How are you liking the Institute?"

"Well enough. Jamie likes it here. He's already got half of the student population willing to play fetch with him whenever he wants and all of the girls want to give him skritchies and belly rubs when he shape-shifts as a matter of course. Apparently, my little brother makes an adorable puppy." But then, she’d already known that. Millie shifted her weight and brought up one knee to hug to her chest. "I'm going to try not to worry too much about that last bit til he's older."

"That's probably wise." Warren had no idea why he was interested in how she was doing. Technically, she was a client. And even if she wasn't, he had no business prying into the life of some woman he barely knew. Especially since up to a few minutes ago he was pretty sure she hated his guts. "Anyway, I wanted to give you this." He sat up and reached for his briefcase. Once he had it in hand, he opened it to pull out an envelope. "I've got your investments on a bi-weekly payscale, so you'll be getting a check every couple of weeks for a while. After this one, I'll have them mailed directly to the institute, but I wanted to explain a few things to you and answer any questions you might have."

Millie took the envelope but didn't open it. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue.

"Right now you're the only one on the stock registration. This is for both you and your brother, but since he's a minor it has to go through his legal guardian, which is you.”

Millie looked at him. “About that. Not that I mind being Jamie’s guardian, because I don’t, but in the event of dad’s death wouldn’t custody immediately go to his mother?” She didn’t want to think about the possibility of losing Jamie to their donor womb, but she had to address it.

Warren shook his head. He understood her concern and was happy to be able to put the fear to rest. “Normally, yes, however, I’ve done some research and during the divorce proceedings, your mother signed away all parental rights to Jamie. In theory, she could try to make a bid for him, but since she did that and Jamie is almost of an age to select where he wants to go in this situation, she probably won’t. As it stands now, the paper work is submitted and filed and you are Jamie’s guardian.”

She sighed her relief, feeling a bit of tension go out of her neck at that news. “All right. Thank you.”

Warrend nodded. “You’re welcome. Now, when he turns 18, you'll both have the option to split everything with him in half."

Millie frowned thoughtfully and turned the envelope in her hands. "I don't suppose... Is there any way that I could take half of this and put it in a trust for him for when he turns 18?"

Warren frowned thoughtfully. "I suppose I could. But are you sure you want a full half of it to go in? The money is to support both of you."

Millie arched an eyebrow at him. "What would you suggest, then?"

"If you really want to start a college trust for Jamie, I'd put no more than a quarter of the amount per check into it. That way you'll have the money to support yourself and Jamie for things he needs like new clothes and stuff and even give him a bit of an allowance. A good trust will yield a reasonable interest, so you can make up at least some of the difference.” Warren un-buttoned his blazer and slid it off his shoulders as he spoke and laid it neatly between them. He flicked open the catch on the harness that held his wings in place and let it fall down his arms and shoulders to release his wings. He stretched them carefully; they were always a little stiff after being bound. "That's my suggestion as your financial adviser. But before you make a decision you should probably go ahead and open the check and run the numbers."

Millie glanced at his face long enough to see the knowing smirk play across his lips, but her attention was caught by the large, white wings moving behind him. She blinked a little and glanced back at Warren's face. "How do you fold those down enough that they don't show under your coat?" she asked before she even thought about it. Then she seemed to realize what an impertinent question that was and glanced away, blushing hotly. "Sorry. Nevermind."

Warren chuckled quietly. It was rather refreshing to find someone willing to be that honest and open with him. Given who he was, it was almost impossible to find someone besides one of the XMen that was willing to be truthful with him. And she was cute when she blushed. "Don't be sorry. I don't mind. They fold down close to my back, sort of like a bird's will press to its body, but I use a harness to hold them in place so you can't see them at all under my clothes. I also have to have my shirts specially made with holes in the back, which is a bit of a bitch, but worth it."

She nodded and bit her lip as she studied the wings. They were at least 16 feet wide and feathered like a bird's, complete with different types of feathers. She raised her hand and reached for the one closest to her, but caught herself and pulled back. "Ah, they're... nice."

Warren brought his right wing across between them and smiled at her from over it. "You can touch it. I don't mind."

"Are you sure? It's kind of rude, to say the least," she looked up at him, her blue eyes meeting his. "I mean, isn't it kind of like a morbid curiosity thing? Sort of 'I hated your guts two minutes ago, but can I touch your mutation' kind of thing?"

He smirked, amused by her wit. "Probably, but really, it's fine. It's actually rather nice to find someone that's honestly curious rather than disgusted or obviously trying not to mention it." He waggled the wing a little, teasing and enticing her. "Go on. It won't bite, I promise."

Millie took a deep breath and pressed her lips together. "Alright. If you're sure." She reached for the feathered wing and ran the backs of her knuckled down with the direction of the wide primaries. She remembered from a zoo trip when she was a child that people shouldn't touch bird feathers with their palm or finger pads because of the oil in their skin. For all she knew, his wings were the same way. They were soft and she leaned forward curiously to get a closer look.

Warren suppressed a shiver. He had never had anyone touch his wings with the kind of gentle inquisitiveness that she showed. Even his former lovers, who had touched and preened them as a matter of course, had never been so soft or inclined to study them closely. He held himself very still, watching her face as she studied the wing he'd offered, being careful not to betray his thoughts. "We did x-rays years ago, when I first met the Professor. My bones are hollow, like a bird's, so that I can fly. And all the feathers are comparable to a raptor's, primaries and secondaries and that sort of thing," he explained to fill the silence before he did something he'd regret. 

"Really?" She looked back up at him, letting her hand fall away. "Don't they break easily, then?" 

"Actually, no. They're lightweight, but very strong. And if something does happen I'm a fast healer. I can heal a broken bone in a matter of days rather than weeks." Warren moved his wing back behind them so it was no longer separating them. He watched, with some disappointment, as she scooted back to her original position. "I must say, you're adjusting to an all mutant environment very well if you react that well to physical mutations," he commented, reaching behind him to idly scratch his shoulder blade. 

"My little brother runs around as a puppy most of the time, my guide around here has blue fur and a prehensile tail, and my mechanic has foot long metal claws that shoot out of his hands. Somehow, I don't think a pair of giant angel wings are that odd." She favored him with a dry smirk as she settled back to a safe distance and stretched her legs out in front of her, crossing them at her ankles.

Warren laughed at that concise observation of Institute life and held up his hands in mock surrender. "Alright, I concede. You make a good point." 

"Thank you." She cocked her head to one side. "You know, you're not as big of a jerk as I thought you were."

"I like to think I'm not a jerk at all, thank you." He retorted.

Millie snorted. "Please. When I first met you the other day I wanted to take that silver spoon out of your mouth and beat you with it."

"Ooh, you're cruel." He raised his eyebrows. "I thought flower children were supposed to be kind and peaceful."

"And I thought angels were supposed to be without malice," she shot back. The two mock glared at one another for a moment. Millie was the first to break the stare down and start laughing. Warren followed soon after.

"Alright. Open your check, flower child," he ordered a few moments later. It was childish, but he wanted to see her reaction. Besides, she was rather pleasant when she didn't want to beat him bloody.

"Ok, ok. God, pushy, too." She rolled her eyes good-naturedly and slid her finger under the flap of the envelope to pull up the glue. Once that was done, she pulled out the check and read it.  Then she read it again. Then she looked at Warren, back at the check, and at him again. "Are you sure that's right?" 

"I told you. Your father invested very very well." 

Millie nodded, but the mention of her father seemed to sober her good mood. "He did a lot of things right." She sighed and slid the check back into the envelope. 

"It still hurts to think of him, doesn't it?" Warren asked carefully, not wanting to upset her further. 

"Yeah. I mean, I know why he did it, and it's been over a month, but sometimes I can just see it so clearly. Like it's happening all over again, right in front of me." She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. "And then I feel bad, because Dad wouldn't want me to be sad. And I don't even know if he's really dead. I mean, it's pretty much a given that he is, but it's hard to believe it since I didn't see him go down or anything. 

Warren nodded and they fell silent for a few moments. "I met him once." He picked up a blade of grass and twirled it in his fingers thoughtfully. "It was a couple of years ago. A legislative thing that the professor had asked me to sit in on with Ororo and Hank. He wasn't supposed to speak. He was there assisting one of the others, a woman I think. But she asked him to tell the people about his experience with mutants. They were trying to ban known mutants from schools, I think." He chuckled. "He wasn't eloquent or prepared, but his heart was in it. You could see that."

Millie picked up a few little ground flowers and started absently braiding them together. "I remember that. I was at home with Jamie, watching it on TV. Dad did more local legislative stuff than he ever did the national stuff. He always thought that if things started small, on the local level, with the city and town laws, then they'd grow to the state and national levels." She chuckled a little. "The next night, he got in late, after Jamie was in bed, and he and I sat at the kitchen table for hours eating cold pizza and talking about it. He was so excited." She looked at him. "That's how he knew about this place, isn't it? He met you guys that night and you got him in contact with the professor."

"Well, actually, that was more Ororo and Hank, but yes. They gave your father Charles's card after the meeting. I think their initial intent had been to try and get him to send you and your brother to school here. Obviously, things worked out a little differently."

"Just a bit." She sighed and slipped the little flower bracelet over her wrist. 

"What about your mom?" Warren asked after a pause.

She gave a derisive snort. "I haven't had a mom since I was 12 and made a rose bloom in my hands for her." 

"She left." Warren nodded, understanding. 

"No. She was still there. She had my brother Peter to take care of, and a year later she was pregnant with Jamie. She loved dad. She just couldn't deal with me." Millie pulled her legs up and rested her chin on her knees. "Then Jamie turned out to be a shifter and all bets were off. She took Pete and divorced dad. I moved back in to take care of Jamie while dad managed the office and the legislative stuff. Haven't seen her or Pete since." She shrugged a bit. "It's better this way, really. I mean, at least Jamie won't ever have to know that mom left because she couldn't stand the idea of being the mother of a mutant. Dad and I always told him that it was because she and dad stopped getting along." 

"Do you really think he believed that?"

Millie snorted softly and shook her head. "No, but he was kind enough to pretend. And he knew without a doubt that Dad and I loved him. We never missed a game or a program. No matter how busy Dad was, he was always there for Jamie's soccer." She sighed and stared out at the expanse of grass in front of her.

They fell into a companionable silence that was broken moments later by Warren's cell phone going off with a generic ring tone. He sighed and pulled it out of the pocket of his slacks to glance at the caller ID. "Of course,” he muttered as he saw who it was. “Excuse me, Millie. I need to take this." when Millie nodded, he stood and wandered a few yards away to take his call.

Millie fingered the envelope in her hands. She exhaled slowly and stood. She needed to walk and figure things out. She glanced over at Warren for a second, his back to her and his wings mantled, as he talked on the phone, and found herself admiring him for a moment. Blond and blue eyed with a muscular build and narrow waist, he could have been the poster boy for 'rich and pretty'. That should have been more than enough red flags to keep her from even looking but she couldn't help it. Blushing furiously, she tore her gaze away before he could turn and catch her. _Time for a walk._ She risked a glance back over and he was looking her direction and smiled and waved before going back to his conversation. _Definitely time for a walk._  

She took off to the far edges of the estate. 

Warren hung up his phone and turned back to where he'd left Millie only to find she'd disappeared. "Well, damn," he muttered. So much for his cunning plan to subtly spend the afternoon with her, which had admittedly sprung up within the last few minutes of conversation with her, somewhere between her curiosity about his wings and talking about her father. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Probably for the best. At least, he'd try to convince himself of that. Attraction that came on as fast as his had for the woman was probably unhealthy. And it was definitely not a distraction either of them needed right now.

****

_She was dreaming again. She always knew when she was dreaming these days. At least, with these dreams. Lately, they'd shifted from their home in Nebraska to be set in the Institute somewhere. They were sitting in her room this time and she was tending flower pots on the balcony that weren't there in reality. It felt so real, yet she knew it for a dream because her powers were stronger here than they were in reality. Here, her plants grew at her slightest thought and flourished with just a slight nudge. Some of them even insisted on following her around like pets, their leaves and branches growing from their pots to be close to her._

_"You seem like you're settling in." Jefferson commented from the doorway._  

_"Jamie's doing better,” she admitted. “He's living with a few boys over in the dorms now." She turned to sit on the balcony railing, a few plants coiling up to rest next to her._  

_"I know. Bobby and Sam. They're good boys, though a little prone to trouble."_  

_"Aren't all boys that age?" Millie countered. "Do you visit him, like you do me?"_

_"Yes. Usually I see him first, since he's in bed before you." Jefferson crossed his arms over his chest. "Why don't you ask me what you really want to ask me, Flora?"_  

_"Why didn't you tell me? For that matter, why were you living a lie while telling Jamie and me that there was nothing to be ashamed of?"_

_Jefferson sighed. "There's no easy answer to that. I told you I have some precognitive abilities, right?" When she nodded, he continued. "Well, problem with that is that the future is continuously in flux, changing from moment to moment. Sometimes, when I have a clear choice, like whether or not to have told you and your mother when your powers became apparent, I can see two possible futures. In that moment, I saw one future, where your mother took Pete and left us as soon as she found out that I was a mutant as well. Jamie wouldn't have been born, and there was every chance you would have been dead a year later. The other future I saw gave us Jamie and gave both of you a chance to survive and thrive. Was I wrong?"_  

_Millie swallowed and shook her head. "No. Of course not. This is just so new to me, Dad." She stroked a flower that had curled next to her hand lightly. "Is this real? Are you still alive?"_  

_"After a fashion. It's hard to explain. And I don't have time right now. Millie, promise me something?"_

_"Anything, Dad."_

_"Don't leave the Institute."_


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delays in updates. Real life is a soul-sucking bitch.

The next day, Millie spent the entire day alone outside. She had too much that she needed to try and wrap her mind around. So much had happened recently that she felt like she was living in some sort of surreal universe and not reality as she knew it.

 

The mansion was still strange to her, and along with it the reality that it was no longer enough to simply pretend that she and her brother didn’t have the abilities that they did. It wasn’t necessary to hide them, but she found herself still hesitant to use her powers in front of others. The day with Warren had been a fluke. She’d thought she was alone and he’d snuck up on her. Since then, she’d barely used her abilities. She got the distinct feeling that the Professor was disappointed in her for not wanting to use her powers more than she had to. But, after so many years of having to pretend that she didn’t have them, how could he ask her to suddenly believe that it was okay for her to use them openly?

 

The other thing that occupied her thoughts was the dreams she kept having of her father and the conversations those dreams entailed. They were strange, and real, but the previous night, with its mysterious request, had been one of the strangest. Why had this dream been so adamant that she not leave the property? Also, why did she keep having them? Why were they so real? Should she talk to the professor or someone about them? Perhaps, she should ask Jamie if he was having the dreams as well. What if they were real and her father were still alive? There were just too many unanswered questions for her to sort through and she couldn't get any of them to make sense. Worse still, with the specter of the dreams hovering over her, it felt like her father was still alive and she couldn't mourn him.

 

As evening fell, she sat in the branches of a tree, watching the orange light of the sunset filter through the new spring leaves. It was getting chilly as it got darker, but she barely noticed. She needed to get herself out of this funk and trying to do that had her completely lost in her thoughts. Besides, she wasn't good company for anyone right now, and she needed to get herself over it.

 

She didn’t come back to herself until after full dark had settled. It took her a few moments to realize that she’d been outside for so long and that realization was immediately followed by the one that told her she needed to get inside. She’d been gone for long enough that Jamie, at least, would be wondering where she was.

 

When she arrived, the grounds close to the mansion were lit with the outdoor sport lights and the entire place was in chaos. Well, that was too strong, but there were some people running around outside, shouting. It wasn’t the usual kind of shouting, either, where they were playing a round of after dark football or something. It was more focused. A single word, over and over. Not panicked, but urgent. As she got closer, she was able to understand what they were saying and nearly stopped short. They were yelling for her.

 

She'd just stepped into the light when Kurt 'bamfed' in front of her. "Oh, zere you are!" he exclaimed, relief obvious on his face. He wrapped his arms around her exuberantly.

 

"What's going on, Kurt? Why is everyone looking for me?" she asked once he let her go.

 

"Bad news. Very bad news. Come on." He took her hand and teleported them into the house with a loud 'bamf', landing in the student's study lounge. "I have found her, Professor."

 

Millie stumbled a little and sank into the nearest chair. She was never going to get used to that. She took a deep breath and settled into the chair a bit more before looking around. It was then that she realized that all of the members of the X-Men, the professor’s elite group of mutant superheroes, were gathered in the room and Jamie was sitting on the couch looking very upset. She stood and walked over to sit next to him and he rapidly curled up against her. She wrapped her arms around him, frightened by his actions. Jamie was affectionate, even cuddly, by nature, but he seldom got so frightened that he buried his face against her side so hard she thought he was trying to crawl into her.

 

She looked up from him and glanced from face to face around the room, Ororo, Hank, Logan, Scott, Rogue, and Kurt, before focusing on the professor. "Professor, what's going on? Why is Jamie so scared?"

 

Professor Xavier sighed and held forth a news paper from her home state. On the cover was a woman and young man that she hadn't seen in years. The headline read "Mother Makes Desperate Plea for Return of Son and Daughter". Millie read through the article quickly. It outlined her mother's plea for her children to be returned by the 'mutant terrorists' that had kidnapped them when they'd attacked their home. It also mentioned that while no body had been found, due to the amount of blood found at the scene that had been positively identified as belonging to, quote "Jennifer Bartholomew's estranged ex-husband", Jefferson was presumed dead. The article went on to explain how her mother had lost the custody battle to her father and during the divorce proceedings had become estranged from her daughter, and how she hadn't seen either of her children since the divorce was finalized more than three years ago.

 

Millie swallowed and looked up at the professor. "I'm Jamie's guardian, legally now that we've filed the paperwork, right? Even if they do find us here, she won't be able to take him away, will she?"

 

"I've got Warren looking into that now, Amelia. We will do all that we can to keep you and your brother safe." He kept his composure, though he was tense.

 

"Why would she want us now? She never talked to me after I manifested my powers, and once Jamie did..." She swallowed and looked down at her brother.

 

"She left." Jamie looked up at her as he spoke. "And Pete went with her. Because one mutant in the family was bad enough, but two was too much. Especially one that could change his shape. I know, Mil. I heard her and dad fighting all the time before you came back. It's my fault she left."

 

Millie pulled him closer. "No, Jame. It's her own fault. You didn't do anything wrong. Nothing, you understand? She's the one who couldn't handle the fact that we had different abilities."

 

"Millie is right, Jamie." Ororo knelt down so she could look the boy in the eye as she spoke. "It is her own fault that she could not see how wonderful you are, with or without your gifts." She took his hand and squeezed it comfortingly. Jamie looked at the two of them, uncertainty shining in his eyes, but he nodded after a moment.

 

"Still. Millie poses an interesting question." Hank scratched the underside of his chin thoughtfully. "Why would she come forward now? It's unlikely that she's seen the error of her ways."

 

Kurt stepped forward and slid the paper from Millie's lap and looked it over. "I think I know why." He said after a moment. All eyes turned to him and he turned the paper around to show the picture. "Check out who's in the background of the picture." He passed the picture to Logan, who swore under his breath before passing it on to Scott. The paper made its way around the room, each of the faculty reacting with varying degrees of anger or dismay. When it got back to Millie, she looked at the picture and saw two men standing in the background. Both were very nicely dressed in suits and ties. One had sandy brown hair, and was the muscular sort of lean that is commonly seen on gymnasts and his eyes showed nothing but satisfaction trying to disguise itself as concern. The other had black hair and was muscular, but shorter and a bit stockier than his counterpart.

 

"Who are they?" she asked, looking up at the group.

 

"Graydon Creed," Logan growled. "An’ one of his lackeys. Friends of Humanity trash."

 

"Creed is the president of the Friends of Humanity, Amelia. And the man next to him is likely the chapter head for the sector your mother is involved with," the Professor informed her, though his expression was a bit thoughtful and distracted.

 

"Wait. I know my mom doesn't like mutants, but she wouldn't let them kill my father for it." Millie bit her lip, unsure of the words, even as she spoke them.

 

"She disowned ya when ya were just a kid an’ ran off as soon as another one started showin’ signs. That don’t exactly scream Mother o’f th’ Year to me," Logan countered, crossing his arms over his chest.

 

"It's entirely possible, Logan, that she didn't know they were behind the shooting. Perhaps they took it upon themselves after the two of them got involved, seeing a golden opportunity." Hank mused as he leaned against the wall. "But, I suppose we need to expect every possibility. And it's just as possible that she was involved in the entire plot."

 

"And it certainly explains how the tracking device got onto the car," Scott pointed out. "She would have had a key to that shed that she might not have given back after the divorce. It would have been easy for her to sneak in and plant it, or give the key to someone else to plant for her."

 

"There was a tracking device on my car?!" Millie squeaked the question, her voice somewhere between outrage and despair.

 

"I found it it b’fore we brought th’ car in, but yeah. They'd been followin’ ya th’ whole trip." Logan crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke and leaned against the back of a chair.

 

"Alright, then why didn't they just snatch 'em when they were stopped at a hotel or somethin'?" Rogue asked from her perch on the desk.

 

"Media coverage," Storm answered. "By doing it this way, they can frame mutants for the murder and kidnappings, come and find them in a known mutant safe house, and be regaled for re-uniting a mother with her missing children. All positive coverage for the Friends of Humanity and negative for mutants and especially the Institute."

 

"That's why they did a botched up job trying to frame me for the murder!" Millie exclaimed. "They weren't really trying to frame me, they were trying to make it look like someone was doing a bad job of trying to frame me."

 

"But there has to be more," Professor Xavier broke in. "Millie and Jamie can both testify that they weren't kidnapped and came here of their own free will. What else could they be up to?"

 

The group fell silent for several moments. No one could think of a reason. Not on the little they had to go on.

 

"We're gonna have to leave, aren't we?" Jamie asked, looking around at the adults. "We can't stay here if we'll get you in trouble. And they'll find us and make us go back to her and-"

 

"No, Jamie." Ororo squeezed onto the couch on the other side of Jamie and Millie relinquished her hold on him. She realized that Ororo was providing Jamie with something he needed that she couldn't be to him: a mother. The dark woman wrapped her arms around the boy. "If you want to stay, then you will stay. There is no reason for either of you to have to leave, and every reason for you to stay." She ran her hand over his hair and cradled him in her lap. "You are going to stay here with your friends and make stink bombs in Dr. McCoy's class, and play soccer in the yard. You will see."

 

Millie watched, feeling a little helpless and a lot useless. She looked around and noticed that she wasn't the only one feeling a little uncomfortable. She listened as Jamie sniffed for a few moments into Ororo's shirt before he calmed down.

 

Ororo smiled at him once he'd calmed down. "Now, I think it is time for you to go to bed, young man." She gently nudged him off her lap and stood, taking his hand in hers. She looked at the others. "I will be back shortly." She led Jamie from the room, quietly suggesting they make some hot chocolate before he went to bed and being countered with hot milk and honey, because Jamie was allergic, before the door shut behind them.

 

Millie pressed her hand to her forehead and licked her lips. She stared for a long moment at the news page in front of her. "...what if... they expected us to run?"

 

All attention was on her as she looked up and she was suddenly unsure of her theory.

 

"Go on. Tell us what you're thinkin'." Rogue encouraged her.

 

"Well, if they knew where we were, which we can pretty much assume that they do because I broke down within five miles of the institute, then what's the best way to get us going again so that they can get us?"

 

"Make it so you don't feel safe where you are." Hank grinned at her. "By making the public plea, they've guaranteed no only to make the mutants look bad, but to make you afraid to stay where you are. So they flush you out, use the tracker to find you, and then they can take you down when you're away from where you were safe."

 

"And if they made it look like you had escaped and were traumatized, no one would ever know," Scott finished. "Damn, they're getting good at this."

 

"So... vhat do ve do zen?" Kurt asked, propping himself up on his tail. "Zey are going to figure out pretty quickly zat zey aren't falling into step vith zeir plan."

 

"I think we'll sleep on it tonight," the professor said. "Perhaps we'll have some fresh ideas in the morning. Logan, Amelia, would you please come with me for a few moments. I have one more thing I need to discuss with you."

 

Logan nodded curtly, and Millie murmured her assent as she group disbanded. They followed the professor to his office.

 

"Close the door, please, Logan." Logan complied as the professor turned his chair to face them. "Amelia, I'd like you to begin training tomorrow."

 

"Training?" she asked.

 

"Your powers and in hand to hand combat. I'd hoped to be able to give you a little more time to get settled, but I don't think we can afford to. Not with the way things are progressing. You need to learn to defend yourself and control your abilities."

 

She swallowed and glanced at Logan, who was nodding agreement. She could feel them watching her expectantly as she fell silent. It wasn't that she didn't realize the necessity of it, she definitely needed to train her powers and the need for the self-defense training was just as obvious. It was only...

 

That was the moment that everything hit her like a brick. She'd managed until that moment, knowing that she had to press forward despite everything and forcing herself to beat back her emotions until she was laser focused on only getting Jamie to safety. But in the back of her mind there had always been the hope that someday things would get back to normal or that she would wake up and this would just be a dream.

 

Now she knew that things would never be normal again. She'd never go meet Jamie at the bus or make dinner while he and their father toiled over his math homework at the table. No more impromptu dance marathons in the living room or long conversations on the porch.

 

Millie pressed her lips together, pushing back the pain that had come with that realization with stubborn resolve. She couldn't afford to lose it now. Not yet. "What time do we start?"

 

"Tomorrow mornin’ at 6 in the dojo." Logan answered, raising an eyebrow at the professor.

 

Professor Xavier nodded. "And I have a free hour at 10 for us to begin training your powers, Amelia. We'll go ahead and make that the schedule now for every day until we figure out something more permanent."

 

Millie nodded. "Alright. Is that all?"

 

The professor nodded. "Yes. Thank you, Amelia. I'll see you in the morning."

 

Millie said goodnight to the two and left the office. She didn't remember the walk back to her room, but once she arrived there, she went straight to the balcony and pushed open the door. She wasn't ready for bed yet. She needed to think.

 

****

 

The first day of training was brutal. Logan was a hard task master, and the professor was even worse. Millie ended up falling asleep after dinner and not waking up until Logan pounded on her door the next morning, annoyed because she was late and making her run extra laps and do extra push ups to make up for it. The third morning she was up before dawn and found herself dozing over her coffee as she sat at the table trying to wake herself up.

 

She hurt all over. Even her brain hurt from the professor's lessons in her abilities. She couldn't help but think that Jamie had it easy. He got to train in a class of his peers and would grow up making all this second nature. None of this being singled out for attention by the trainers from hell and trying to make up for a lifetime of being uneducated in the arts of fighting and controlling her powers.

 

Granted, she thought that the lessons to control her powers were fairly useless, or would have been except for the fact that she did still have the occasional outburst when she got upset. Not that she had voiced this at all. That would have earned her a look and a dressing down, and she didn't want to deal with that fall out. Maybe she'd mention it when things weren't quite so harried, but right now it seemed better to just go along with everything. If there was one thing she was learning it was that Logan's hellish determination to get her up to battle readiness as quickly as possible was nothing in comparison to the Professor's need to train every ounce of her abilities until they were honed to perfection.

 

She yawned again and glanced at the clock. 4:50. God. She was normally a morning person, but this was ridiculous.

 

"Morning," someone said tiredly from the door. Millie looked over and saw Warren walk in wearing a pair of well worn plaid pajama pants and a tank top that must have been specially designed to fit around his wings. His wings were folded neatly against his back and his hair was mussed as though he'd only taken the time to run his hands through it before coming down.

 

"Morning." She answered, fighting back a yawn. "What are you doing here? I thought you had a penthouse or a nest or something."

 

Warren made a face at her. "You're hilarious. I was over late going over some things with Charles and decided to just crash here rather than fly back home at one in the morning. Is the coffee fresh?"

 

"Yeeh. I've made it my goal in life to take over Logan's days on coffee making so he stops poisoning us."

 

"I could kiss you for that," he murmured as he poured a mug of steaming coffee and walked over to the table. "Why are you up before the sun?" he asked as he sank into a chair with a tired groan.

 

"Logan sessions. I was late yesterday and he made me run and do push ups until I fell over, then we started actually training. I'm in no hurry to let that happen again."

 

Warren made a face. "Don't blame you. I wouldn't be either." He took a sip of the coffee and raised his eyebrows. "Ok, you are a coffee goddess."

 

She snorted. "Flatterer. You're just so used to drinking toxic waste in the mornings that you don't even remember what halfway decent coffee tastes like." She took a drink of her coffee before standing to go find breakfast. She opened the fridge and frowned thoughtfully. "Do you want anything? If I cook I might as well cook for two if I'm cooking for one."

 

"Sure, thanks. Whatever you want. I'm not picky."

 

"I somehow doubt that." She pulled out a carton of eggs and started rooting around for the peppers and onions she'd seen the other day. "So, if you didn't get to bed one why are you up so early?"

 

"Internal alarm. I've been getting up this early for so long that I'm not sure I'd be able to sleep later if the world depended on it." He leaned back and watched as she got out the things to make breakfast. He found himself admiring the line of her back and the way the light from the fixtures shone off her pony tail. Warren shook his head. Down boy. She's got enough on her plate. She doesn't need you ogling her like some neanderthal.

 

"Then let's just hope the world doesn't ever depend on your ability to sleep late." She commented as she started slicing up peppers, onion, and ham. "How many eggs?"

 

"Hmn? Oh, two or three is fine." He stood. "Do you want some help? It'll go faster with two pairs of hands, and you've got an appointment at six." He walked over to the cooking area.

 

She glanced at him and smiled. "Alright, if you're sure you don't mind." 

 

"I wouldn't have offered if I minded." He pointed out. "Now, what would you like me to do?"

 

"Finish cutting up this stuff while I heat up the oil and beat the eggs." She handed him the knife and stepped out of the way.

 

He started slicing the vegetables as directed while Millie got out an iron skillet and turned the stove on. She pulled down some oil and swirled it in the pan as it heated. "What were you and the professor going over so late last night?" She looked over at him. "Cut away from yourself, not towards. You'll cut yourself doing it that way."

 

Warren glanced over at her as he switched the direction he'd been cutting in. He didn't want to tell her that they'd been going over the guardianship paperwork and trolling the news trying to find out more about what the FOH was doing. They were having a nice morning and he didn't want to ruin that. "Just institute stuff," he finally told her, looking down as he finished splitting the peppers and started scooping out the seeds. "Paperwork and legal stuff. The paper trail that goes into running a place like this is enormous."

 

"I bet." She cracked five eggs into a bowl, added a little milk, and started whisking them around to break the yolks. "Would you check if there's any of that pre-cooked sausage left in the freezer?"

 

"Sure. What are you making?" he asked as he wiped his hands on a towel before going to check the freezer.

 

"Frittata. It's quick and easy and damn tasty." She grinned at him as she scooped the veggies and ham he'd already sliced into the egg mix and stirred it around.

 

Warren pulled out the Ziploc bag of sausage crumbles and held it up. "Victory!" He brought it over to her and she studied the bag for a moment. There was only about a half a cup left inside it.

 

"Dump it all in the bowl," she ordered a moment later.

 

Warren complied and tossed the empty bag in the garbage. He went back to the peppers and finished slicing them into smallish pieces. "Peppers?"

 

"Great. Drop them in." He scooped them in and she whisked the mixture around a few more times. He turned to put the leftover vegetables and meat in their respective baggies and heard the eggs sizzle as they hit the hot oil in the pan. He glanced over his shoulder to see Millie standing careful guard over the pan with a spatula in her hand. She was obviously in her element and Warren was content to let her at it. If someone was cooking that meant he didn't have to attempt, which was a blessing all the way around. He put the bagged vegetables into the crisper and kicked the door closed.

 

"What now?" he asked, leaning against the counter. He would have been content to just sit and watch her, but that was probably a bad idea.

 

"In a few minutes I'll put some cheese on it and put it in the oven long enough to melt that. So, you any good at making toast?"

 

Warren grinned. "Toast is my specialty. That and popcorn. I make a mean bowl of popcorn." He reached up on top of the fridge for the bread. "Honestly, though, this is amazing to me, you realize."

 

Millie looked at him quizzically. "What? Why? It's just breakfast."

 

"No. It's a frittata." He popped the bread into the toaster and turned to face her, crossing his arms over his chest. "That you didn't measure out anything to make. And you won't be timing anything either. You just eyeball it and it's going to come out perfect. That's amazing."

 

"Please. It's not like it's hard. You could do it. Anyone could." Millie checked the edges of the frittata, lifting them a little to keep them from sticking.

 

"No, I couldn't. I never learned how to cook. I never had to. So, toast and popcorn is the extent of my kitchen knowledge. The coffee I make would make even Logan cringe." He reached into the fridge for the butter for the toast and snagged the strawberry preserves for himself. He had a weakness for strawberry preserves.

 

Millie caught herself staring at his backside as he leaned into the open fridge and quickly turned her attention back to the skillet. "You never learned to cook? Not even mac and cheese or spaghetti?" She asked incredulously. "Get me out the block of cheese while you're in there, would you?" God, she hoped he hadn't noticed her looking.

 

Warren complied and brought it over to her as she was digging around the drawer for the cheese grater. "Not even that. I went to private boarding schools my entire childhood and when I went home on holidays and breaks my father's cook would always be in the kitchen. When I went to college there was a cafeteria to eat in." He shrugged and started to get down plates to set the table as Millie grated cheese over the eggs.

 

Millie slipped an oven mitt over her hand and picked up the skillet. She turned and put it under the broiler. "That just... baffles me. I don't remember not knowing how to cook." She closed the oven and tossed the mitt onto the counter. "From the time I was able to walk I was helping mom in the kitchen until I was 12, and after that I was always making my own meals and sometimes cooking for the rest of the family. And then after the divorce I did the majority of the cooking in the house, though I made Jamie help a fair amount of the time." She peered into the oven to check the cheese. It was just starting to ooze and bubble.

 

Warren set the plates and forks he'd gotten down on the table and brought over their coffee cups. Without asking, he freshened her cup before handing it back to her. She murmured a soft thank you. "Well, there's one way to fix the problem," he said as she took a careful drink from the cup.

 

"And that would be?"

 

"Teach me to cook." He smirked and turned to face her so that she was between him and the counter. "I'm an apt pupil, and I promise I won't force anyone to eat anything you don't approve of first so there's no risk of me poisoning the populous."

 

Millie looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, trying to ignore the way her pulse quickened as he moved closer to her. "How- how about we get past this whole Friends of Humanity want to hunt me down thing, and let things get settled first." She wanted the excuse to spend more time with him, no doubt about that, but first thing was first. And she was eternally sensible.

 

"One thing I've learned is that things are never settled or calm around here." Warren countered, grinning and leaning just a bit closer. "But, we do need to focus on more important things first, you're right. But I'm going to hold you to that." He reached for her coffee mug to hold it while she checked the oven and his fingers brushed lightly against hers and held for several seconds longer than they should have. Neither one moved for a moment, each staring at the other and locked in the moment. He reached up and softly tucked back a lock of her hair that had fallen from her ponytail, barely noticing the trace of a shiver that went through her has his fingers brush against her skin. It would have been so easy, in that moment, to lean down and brush his lips over hers. He wanted to so badly that he barely caught himself in time to keep from just doing it.

 

Warren looked away and stepped back towards the table. He cleared his throat as he set their mugs down. "Check your eggs, Millie. I'll get the toast," he told her, his voice a trifle hoarse.

 

She swallowed and nodded. She went to the oven to pull out the eggs. Something had just happened, but she wasn't entirely sure what and she wasn't certain it was wise to dwell on it too much.

 

****

 

Kurt whistled happily as he walked towards the kitchen. Something smelled good and he was going to hopefully get to partake of whatever it was. Just as he was about to turn into the kitchen, something grabbed his arm and pulled him back. He turned to see Kitty holding tight to his arm with a finger over her lips. Behind her were Amara and Jubilee, both looking giddy as hell, and Scott and Rogue looking decidedly put out.

 

"Vhat's going on?" He asked, keeping his voice low.

 

"Take a peek, Kurt, but don't let them see you." Kitty ordered, her voice hushed. She released his arm.

 

Kurt frowned and slid back to peek into the kitchen. Inside he saw Angel and Millie sitting at the table, talking and eating breakfast. A breakfast that smelled wonderful. He turned his face back to Kitty, expression confused. "It is just Millie und Varren."

 

"Millie and Warren having breakfast. Together." Jubilee corrected, her glee obvious in her voice. "Alone."

 

Kurt sighed and smacked his palm flat against his forehead. "You are holding up eweryone else's breakfast because two people happen to be having breakfast at ze same time in zere?"

 

"You didn't see the whole thing, Kurt. She cooked for him. And got him to help. And he talked her into teaching him to cook," Amara nearly scolded, as though offended by the notion that they would just hold everyone up for nothing. "They almost kissed."

 

Kurt shook his head. "Right. Zat's pathetic, you zree. Seriously." And he bamfed before the trio could attempt to stop him again.

 

He re-appeared in the kitchen next to the fridge. "Morning."

 

Millie looked over at him, mid-bite of toast. "Morning, Kurt. How goes?"

 

"Oh, you know. Usual." He pulled out a stack of waffles from the previous day's breakfast and put them in to microwave. "So, you are not going to believe zis."

 

Warren raised his eyebrow. "Ok, shoot. I try to believe in ten unbelievable things every day before breakfast. Since I haven't finished my coffee I still have time for an 11th." He grinned at Millie, who grinned back, obviously recognizing the “Alice In Wonderland” reference.

 

"Kitty, Jubilee, and Amara have been holding back eweryone in ze hall because zey did not want to interrupt your intimate breakfast." Kurt poured himself a glass of milk. "Apparently, you looked wery cozy." He looked over at them to see how they reacted.

 

Millie looked at Warren, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Warren raised his eyebrows at her curiously. "Should we tell them, honey?" she asked, her voice sugary sweet.

 

Warren caught on immediately and reached across the table for her hand. "If you want to, Cupcake, but I thought you wanted to keep a low profile for a while."

 

"Well, if we've been found out there's no need to keep it a secret." She countered before turning to look at Kurt. "Kurt, we need to go ahead and tell you, and anyone else that's outside the door listening." Kitty, Jubillee, and Amara poked their heads around the doorjamb, watching eagerly.

 

Warren took it up from there. "Millie and I are..." He paused, glancing at her as though sure, but it was really dramatic effect. "Not dating. At all." He dropped Millie's hand and the two of them fell into laughter as voices were raised outside the kitchen. Scott and Rogue came in first, both bee-lining for the coffee pot. They each looked more than a little annoyed.

 

Millie looked at Warren. "And on that note, I need to get to the dojo before I'm late."

 

"You're leaving me all alone to deal with the fallout from our apparently private meal? You are wicked." Warren made a face as he finished his coffee.

 

"You'll live. I won't survive if I Logan makes me do laps again." She stood and started gathering up her plate and silverware.

 

"We don't want that. I'll clean up." Warren said, taking the plate out of her hands.

 

"Thanks." She smiled and jogged out of the kitchen with a wave to everyone else. "See ya!"

 

Kurt peered over his stack of waffles, looking pointedly at the dishes in Warren's possession. "Are you sure you are not dating?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another! At least I make up for sporadic updates with multiple chapters, right? Enjoy!

Millie was sprawled on her bed reading that evening when there was a knock at her door. "Come in." She called, marking her place and setting the book aside as she sat up. Jamie opened the door slowly and stuck his head in.

"Millie?" he asked. "Are you gonna go away?"

Millie scooted to the edge of her bed and beckoned him over to her. He padded over and jumped up onto the bed with her. "What makes you think that?"

"I heard some of the girls at school talking about you and that winged guy. They said you were dating and that you would probably move into his apartment in the city if he asked you." He looked up at her. "You're not leaving, are you?" 

"Not any time soon, Jame. Warren -- that's the winged guy -- he's just a friend and he's been helping me with the stocks and legal stuff." She slid her arm around his shoulders. "I promise. I'm staying put."

"But they said you cooked for him and that meant things were serious. And he almost kissed you." 

Millie forced back the blush that threatened as she remembered that long moment in the kitchen, how warm his fingers had felt against her cheek as he'd tucked back her hair and how she'd been very aware of how close they'd been standing to one another. She'd realized later that morning that he'd been seconds away from kissing her and part of her had been disappointed that he hadn't. It was better that he'd stopped himself, the rumor mill was obviously having a field day as it was, and she really didn't need another complication in her life. Still, it would have been nice.

She reached over with her free arm and ran her hand over Jamie's hair. "They were gossiping, Jamie. That's all. I'm not dating anyone and I'm not going anywhere. I made breakfast for Warren this morning because he was there when I was making mine. If any of the others had come in, I'd have added to the recipe. You know how I cook." She squeezed him tight. "And I promise, if I ever do go anywhere, I'll always come back to you. Ok?"

He nodded and hugged her tight around the waist. "Ok." He fell silent for a moment. "Do you like him?"

Millie paused for a second before answering. "He's very nice," she finally said.

"Oh. Ok." Jamie looked up at her. "Because if you did like him, I'd be ok with you dating him as long as you didn't forget me."

She smiled and stroked his hair. "I could never forget you, you know that. But, if we do go out, I'll be sure to let you know so you can threaten him if he hurts your big sister."

Jamie grinned at that idea. "Alright. I love you, Mill."

"I love you too, Jame." She kissed his hair, glad he still let her do that. Another year or two and he'd be too old for things like hugs and kisses. "Now, why don't you go on back to bed."

"I'm not sleepy now." He said, looking up at her.

She chuckled quietly at that. Of course he wasn't. "Alright. Then let's go out and play some fetch. But if you fall asleep in class tomorrow it's not my fault, deal?"

Jamie grinned and jumped off the bed. "Deal! Come on!"

She laughed and grabbed her robe before chasing him downstairs.

****

Professor Xavier sat near a large window and watched Millie and Jamie play outside under the lights. They were really just dots of color under the lights and against the green landscaping: Millie was pale green from her robe with dark blue underneath from her pajamas and Jamie was a zooming dark shadow. Millie would throw a stick and Jamie, in the shape of a black lab puppy, would run after it. Warren stood next to him, his arm braced against the windowpane, watching the siblings or, more accurately, watching Millie. Charles looked up at his friend and former pupil.

"Half of the female population of my student body is beside themselves with the belief that you have found true love in the arms of another, Warren," he said, his voice amused.

Warren snorted quietly. "And the other half?"

"They think you're gay."

Warren rolled his eyes at that, but didn’t respond otherwise.

"The rumors are false, I presume?"

"Does it matter?" Warren glanced away from watching the two play for a moment to look at him. "I'm an adult, she's an adult. We can do as we like."

"She's just lost her father and home, has had to run for her life, and found out her mother may be in on a plot with anti-mutant terrorists to kidnap her and her brother. It's not exactly what I'd call a stable time for her. Hardly conducive for beginning a relationship."

Warren sighed. "I know that. Look, Professor, I'd like nothing more than to take her to a movie and out for a burger, maybe even kiss her goodnight on the steps when I brought her home, but I haven't for those exact reasons." He looked back out at the siblings who were now tussling around on the grass. "When I ask her out, I want to be sure that whether she says yes or no it's not for any reason other than that she wants to. And with everything that's happening and happened recently, asking her now would be akin to taking advantage." He glanced back over. "Does that answer your question?"

"Yes, thank you." He wheeled his chair away from the window. Warren stood silently for several moments, his gaze traveling back out to the yard.

"Why does it matter? You don't usually interfere with people's personal relationships this directly." Warren didn't turn to face him as he asked, but he heard the wheelchair stop.

"Because I don't want either of you hurt again."

"You can't stop that, Charles. As long as we're alive, we're going to be hurt. It's part and parcel of being alive."

"No, but sometimes an old busybody like me can't help but think we can stop the inevitable." Warren heard the chair move again and soon it was out of earshot.

He sighed and sank into a chair. Things just had to be difficult.

****

"You've met someone, Flora," Jefferson said with a smile as they walked around the outside of the Institute. "I can see it in your eyes."

Millie looked at him. "I've met a lot of people these last few weeks, Dad," she hedged.

"I suppose that's true." They were silent for a few moments as they walked before he spoke again. "Who is he?"

Millie sighed in irritation. "His name is Warren. He's very nice, and I wish everyone would just stop with the speculation and butting into our business. Why is it so important to everyone if we're dating or not, which we're not. If we do go on a date, or start to date regularly, whose business is that but ours?"

Jefferson waited a moment after she stopped her tirade before speaking. "I didn't mean to pry. I take it there's been some... nosiness?"

She nodded. "Yeah. A bit. To the point that Jamie was worried that I was going to run off with Warren and forget him. But our relationship isn't like that. I didn't even like him at first. He was such a jerk, Dad. You should have heard the things he said."

"What changed?"

Millie chuckled quietly, her expression softening a bit. "He apologized. And then we just talked. He was kind of fun and we fell into teasing each other like that's the way it's always been. And this morning we had breakfast together. Just talking about stuff. Nothing big, nothing huge. He somehow talked me into teaching him to cook, and then... something happened. I'm not sure what, but... I think he may have been about to kiss me and stopped himself." She reached up self-consciously to secure that stubborn lock of hair behind her ear again, remembering Warren performing the same action that morning. Somehow, the more she thought about it, that simple action seemed more intimate than a kiss would have been in that moment, yet not inappropriate.

"It sounds like you're halfway gone on him already." Jefferson smiled and took his daughter's hand. "I met Warren once. It was a few years ago, and he didn't say much. He seemed like a quiet young man."

"He can be. He can be very serious and almost brooding, sometimes. He can also be the biggest goof you've ever seen, with the exception of Kurt. No one's a bigger goof than Kurt." She squeezed her father's hand. "I think I like him, Daddy. A lot."

"I can see that just by the way you talk about him." He sighed and pulled her into a hug. "My little girl isn't little anymore. And I'm not the most important man in your life anymore." He kissed her hair.

"Nonsense. You'll always be number one. Well, you and Jamie." She looked up at him, smiling impishly.

"No, Flora. This is good. You're grown and making your own life. I've been expecting this for a while, honestly. Even if I'm still number one in this moment, I won't be forever. And that's fine. It's the way it should be." He combed his fingers through her hair, the way he'd always done when she was a child. "I am so proud of you. I know you've never thought of yourself as particularly strong or brave, but you are one of the strongest and bravest women I've ever known. I've always thought that. Even after everything that's happened, with your mother and the Friends of Humanity and everything, you're still strong enough to maybe be falling in love. That's amazing, baby. You're amazing." He pulled back and looked down at her. "I need you to keep being brave and strong, Flora. For you, and for Jamie, and everyone else. A lot of things depend on it." 

"What are you talking about? What things?" Millie blinked up at him. "Dad, you're not making sense."

"They're coming, Flora. For you and the others. I hear them talking even though they think I can't hear them." Jefferson cupped her face in his hands, his voice suddenly urgent. "I don't have much time. They've just injected the first dose. Don't leave the Institute. Ever. It's the only way you'll be safe. Promise me."

Millie looked up at him. He was scaring her now. "I- I promise, Dad."

"I love you, Flora. And Jamie. Don't ever forget that. And don't leave the Institute." He kissed her forehead and held her close for a moment before pulling back to clutch his head with a pained shout. "It's starting."

"What's happening? What's going on? Dad?" She started towards him and he waved her back.

"It's the cure." He looked at her with pain filled eyes before falling to his knees and clutching his head again. "I don't think I'll be able to see you again, Flora. I-"

****

Millie fell out of her bed with a quiet thump, the blankets tangled around her. She sat up slowly, wondering where she was for a moment, her heart pounding and her breaths coming out in soft pants.

She swallowed hard as she remembered the dream. He was gone. She knew it bone deep. Her father was really, and truly gone now. And she didn't know how to handle that right now.

A glance at the clock told her it was just past five in the morning. Time to get up. Millie stood and looked around the room dumbly for a moment, her mind still trying to process what had just happened. But she couldn't. And she had things to do.

She changed into the loose pants and tank top she wore for training with Logan and put on her shoes before heading to the kitchen. She'd think about the dream later.

For now, she tried to convince herself that it had only been a dream.


	7. Chapter 7

Jamie was skipping class. He was going to get in trouble for it, but sometimes a man had things that he needed to take care of during class hours. This was one of those times. He needed to catch Warren before he left. Actually, when he left. So, there he was, hiding out in the limousine that had pulled up a little bit ago for the man. He'd heard people talking about it during the break and decided that was the best course of action.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the door opened, Warren climbed in, and the door closed. Jamie waited until the car was moving to make himself known.

"Are you going to marry my sister?"

Warren looked sharply to the other side of the limo and ended up spilling the cola he'd been pouring himself all over his front. He saw the boy sitting there as calmly as anything and wondered why he hadn't noticed him before. But of course, Warren knew why he hadn't noticed. He had been distracted by a pair of blue eyes and quiet smile he'd managed to finagle breakfast with again that morning. It wasn't private by any means, but it had been nice. Especially when she'd forced everyone out of the kitchen except him and a few others so she could cook breakfast for everyone. That had been a wonderful sight. He wondered if anyone else realized that the kitchen was slowly becoming her domain?

He sighed and set the cola can aside as he reached for a napkin. "Hello, Jamie." He dabbed the soda off his shirt. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Some things are more important." Jamie tilted his head to one side and waited for an answer. When Warren didn't say anything, he asked again. "Well? Are you?"

"Where did this come from? I haven't even asked her out on a date yet." Warren looked at the boy, his eyebrow raised.

"I heard people talking." Jamie shrugged.

Warren sighed deeply. Of all the mornings to have a stowaway, this was not the one he would have chosen. "Alright, look, I'm going to be perfectly honest with you, ok?" The boy nodded and Warren peeled his damp suit coat from his shoulders. "I like your sister, very much. I'd like the opportunity to get to know her better, but right now things are a little hectic. We're not dating, we're still getting to know one another, and if we do get married, it won't be any time in the near future. Ok?"

Jamie nodded slowly. "Have you kissed her?"

Warren didn't -- quite -- groan. "No. I haven't. But when I do, that will be between her and me, got it?" At Jamie's sigh and reluctant nod, Warren shook his head at himself. "Look, Jamie. I know you're feeling protective of her and don't want to lose her to anyone so soon after losing everything else in your life. And I'm not trying to take her away from you, at all. She'd beat me if I even tried it and you know it. So, I'll make a deal with you."

The boy looked at him measuringly for a second. "What kind of deal?"

"If we start dating, officially, we'll let you know, and if we decide to marry you'll be the first person we tell. But, in exchange, I want you to stop skipping class to play protector and let things take their own course, alright?" Warren pinned the boy with a stern look, making him squirm a little.

"...alright." He sighed. "I'm sorry, I just needed to know. She said you were just friends, but I still wasn't sure."

"I suppose I don't blame you. If some guy was sniffing around my big sister I'd be suspicious, too. Especially with the way girls can gossip, which I'm guessing is where you heard we were dating in the first place." He glanced at him with a raised eyebrow before reaching into the mini-fridge for a can of cola. "Coke alright for you?"

"Yeah, thanks." Jamie said as Warren handed him the bright red can.

"Ok, time for you to get back to school." Warren reached up to intercom the driver and stopped when Jamie spoke.

"Do I have to? It's just English and Math today. It's boring."

Warren raised an eyebrow. "What else would you do if you didn't go to school?"

"Couldn't I go to the city with you? See where you work?" His voice was hopeful. "I've never been to New York City. Well, not really. We drove through on our way here, but Millie did it as fast as she could. There was a lot of cussing and punching the steering wheel because traffic was bad." 

"Traffic is always bad in the city,” Warren said dryly. “As for going with me, no. You'd be bored and causing trouble in minutes. Besides, everyone will worry about you."

"I told Bobby and Sam where I was going. Please? I promise I'll be good!" the boy begged, clasping his hands in front of him.

Warren shook his head. "I can't, Jamie. It's too dangerous right now. When things settle down, we'll see about making a trip to the city for you, alright? But right now we don't know what the bad guys are planning, so it's best for you and Millie to stay at the institute." He pressed the intercom. "Michael, turn around, please. We've got a stowaway."

"Yes, sir." Came the answer through the speaker. Moment's later the limo slowed so it could turn around and head back to the Institute.

Millie met them outside the Institute when they arrived moments later, arms crossed over her chest and her foot tapping. Warren looked at Jamie, trying really hard not to be amused. "I am so glad I'm not you." The limo pulled to a stop and Warren got out and Jamie slowly followed.

"James Anders Bartholomew. Go inside and get to class. I'll talk to you after school." Her voice was surprisingly calm considering how upset she looked.

Jamie hung his head and trudged up the stairs. "Yes, Millie," He sighed.

"Hey, Jamie?" Warren called after him once he reached the top of the steps.

"Yeah?" the boy asked, turning around.

"Remember our deal, k?"

Jamie smiled a bit at that and nodded. "Ok!" And he ran inside.

Millie looked at Warren, an eyebrow raised. "Deal?"

Warren took a deep breath and stuck out his chest a bit. "Man stuff."

"Riiight." Millie sighed and reached back to tighten her ponytail. "I'm sorry about that."

"No harm." Warren said, before looking down at his shirt. "Well, almost no harm. Still. No big deal. He was just worried is all. Now, I think I have one more suit in my guest room, and if I leave within the next ten minutes I can still make it to my meeting. Excuse me, Millie." He smiled at her before jogging up the steps.

Millie watched him go for a second before running after him on impulse. "Warren, wait." He stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to wait for her. She reached him and, after a second's hesitation, leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for being so cool with Jamie." Then she turned and ran back down the stairs and around to the side yard before he could respond.

Warren watched her go, rather stunned, and very pleased.

**** 

Millie knocked on Jamie's dorm room door after dinner and opened it. Bobby and Sam were sprawled on one of the beds enthralled with a comic book and Jamie was curled in a chair under the window. "Hey guys, can you give us a few minutes?" she asked Bobby and Sam quietly. The two boys nodded and made their way out of the room, each one sparing a sympathetic look for Jamie. Millie closed the door and walked over to sit on the edge of one of the beds. "You scared me today, Jame. I didn't see you at break and then you didn't go to class. I thought something had happened."

"I didn't want to scare you. I just..." he sighed and looked back out the window. "Are you mad at me?"

"A bit. Come here." She patted the bed next to her. He hesitated a moment, then uncurled from his chair and walked over to the bed. "Remember when we talked last night and I said that I wouldn't leave you, no matter what?" He nodded. "I meant that. So there was no reason for you to sneak into Warren's car and ask him about it, too. And, what you did, more than skipping class and making us all worry, was a serious breach of privacy. Mine and Warren's relationship, whatever it is at any given point in time, is our business. If things move beyond friendship, then we'll tell you, because I love you and want you to be a part of every aspect of my life, but you can't just assume that it's ok to be nosy just because I'm your sister. You understand?"

Jamie nodded. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that, really. I just... Well, mom and Pete left, but we were still OK because there was still dad and you came back. But now dad's gone and I keep thinking what if you go away, too? I know you said that you wouldn't, but Dad didn't think he was going to die like that, either."

"You still won't be alone, Jamie. You'll have Bobby and Sam, Miss Ororo and Dr. Hank, the Professor, and all the other people here. They're our family now, and if anything ever happens to either of us, they'll still be here." She slid her arm around him. "And I'm not going to leave you. Even if I do fall in love with someone and get married, you will always be my little brother and I'll always be your big sister. Nothing can ever, ever change that. You got me?"

He nodded and looked up at her. "Yeah. Ok. I really am sorry."

"I know you are. But that doesn't mean you're getting out of your punishment."

"Aww, man, Millie!" He flopped back on the bed dramatically.

"Don't 'aww man' me, Jamie. You made the choices, you have to live with the consequences. I know Dr. McCoy has already assigned you extra homework for skipping class and that the Professor has told you to write an essay on the importance of attendance in class." Jamie shot her an incredulous look. "We adults, we talk about things, boyo." She ruffled his hair. "That's school punishments. You also broke into someone's car, and left the grounds without permission. You're grounded for two weeks. That means no video games, no computer unless you need it for school, and I'd better hear it from your teacher if you do, and you're helping clean up the kitchen and dining room after dinner every night for those two weeks. No allowance, either. That's going to help pay to clean Warren's car and suit from where you startled him into spilling his pop. Got it?"

He sighed. "Yeah, I got it," he muttered. "You're harsh, Mill. But, I guess I know why you're doing it. Can I go play outside for a bit before bed?"

"Yeah, go ahead. Half an hour, then I want you washed up and in bed, got it?" He nodded eagerly. "Can I have a hug, even though I'm so harsh?" 

"Yeah." He hugged her tight and she wrapped her arms around him. 

"I love you, Jame. Even when I'm mad at you, I love you. Now go play for a bit." She watched as he ran out of the room and sighed quietly.

"You handled that well."

Millie turned her head to see the professor sitting in the doorway of the room. "Oh, hello, Professor. I'm glad you think so. I feel horrible about it." She leaned forward and rested her chin in her hands.

"Discipline is never a pleasant task, for the giver or the receiver, Amelia, but it is necessary. You did very well with him. Many people would have just meted out the punishment without explaining specifically what the punishment is for." He wheeled into the room and over to sit next to her.

"Jamie's too smart for that. It's always been that way. As long as mom or dad explained why they were punishing him and why it was wrong, he took the punishment and moved along. If they just punished him without explaining anything, he rebelled against it." Millie closed her eyes for a moment, her gut clenching suddenly as she thought of her father. "Professor? Do you think that people can reach out to us after they'd died?"

Charles frowned at the sudden change of subject. "Well, scientifically there's no basis, though I have known of one or two mutants whose mutations were triggered by their deaths and they were incorporeal. But just people communicating after they've died, I don't know, Amelia. I suppose anything is possible." He paused for a moment. "Why do you ask?"

Millie shook her head slightly and stared out the window. "It's crazy, but ever since that day, when the house was attacked, I keep dreaming about him. At first it was just him helping me on the trip, sort of guiding me up here. But since we got here it's been, different. We've been talking, and I've dreamed that he's a mutant and still alive, and... they're so real that I almost believe them." She sighed and reached up to wipe at her eyes. "I'm sorry. It's sounds silly, now that I'm saying it aloud. There's no way he could have survived. Not the way they were spraying bullets around. It's just wishful thinking."

Charles reached for her hand. "Wishful thinking or not, those dreams helped you get here, Amelia. So maybe, in a way, your father did guide you here even more than with the video and envelope." He squeezed her hand lightly. "It's not unusual to dream about someone we've lost recently. It's part of the mind's way of coping. I'm sorry. I know you were hopeful."

Millie nodded and sniffed quietly. "I know. I knew the answer, really, but I just needed to hear it from someone else. Excuse me, Professor." She stood and walked quickly from the room.

She went outside and found her way quickly to the tree she and Warren had talked under that day when he'd apologize and had a few conversations beneath since. She curled up between the roots and wrapped her arms around her knees. "Oh, daddy..." she whispered, her voice thick. She'd been so hopeful that maybe, somehow, the dreams had meant he was alive. But he couldn't be. She knew that now. And the realization made her feel sad and angry and broken all at once. Like a dam breaking under pressure, the tears that had somehow eluded her all these months, came in harsh, wracking sobs.


	8. Chapter 8

She didn't know how long she had been there when a soft hand touched her shoulder. Millie looked up to see Kurt kneeling next to her, his expression worried. "Millie?" She sniffed quietly and reached up to wipe at her eyes. Kurt slid between the roots next to her and wrapped his arms around her. She turned automatically into the offered comfort and sobbed against his furry neck and shoulder while he soothed her wordlessly, his hand rubbing small circles on the back of her shoulder.

After several minutes, her tears slowed and stopped and she sat up. "Thanks, Kurt," she said, her voice a little rough from crying.

"No problem. Vhat happened?" he asked as he dropped one arm from around her, but kept the other around her shoulders.

"I just... it finally hit me that Dad's gone. And he's not coming back." She took a shaky breath and leaned her head against his shoulder. "God, Kurt, why did he have to go like that? How could people do that to him? To anyone?"

Kurt sighed gustily and rested his chin on top of her head. "I do not know, Millie." He had an idea, but Kurt had a feeling that she wasn't in the mood to listen to his religious theorizing right now. Not while she was finally allowing herself to mourn.

They fell silent for a few moments. It was nice to be held and comforted. Millie was glad it was Kurt that had found her, though. There was something about him that was comfortable and protective in an older brother way. At least, it was what she'd always imagined having an older sibling might have been like. "How did you know I was out here?"

"Followed ze banshee." He smiled, teasing her lightly. "But seriously, you are not difficult to find. In ze house you are always in ze kitchen, your room, or ze dojo, in zat order, and if you are outside you are usually under here, unless you do not vant to be bozered, and zen you go to ze far side of ze estate." He glanced up into the branched of the trees. "Vhat's so special about zis tree?"

"I don't know. It's just nice. Shady in the heat of the day and it collects the breeze nicely. It's got a good feel." She'd had her first real conversation with Warren under that tree, she remembered, and somehow they seemed to have had a few more there as well.

"Fair enough. Ve all have spots zat we like just because zey are zere." Kurt nodded, reaching over to wipe a stray tear from her cheek with a wide finger.

"What's your spot?"

"Hmn? Oh, ze bell tower in St. Sebastian's. It is peaceful zere. Ze bell is not zere anymore, so I can go and listen to ze services and zink and pray in peace," Kurt replied.

"Oooh, so that's where you go Sunday mornings." Millie nodded. "I'd wondered."

"Ja." He looked at her curiously. "You do not zink it is strange?"

She shook her head. "No. Why should I? Lots of people have faith. Sometimes I wonder if it isn't a necessary part of the human condition."

"Vhat do you have faith in, zen?"

"I... don't know anymore. It's hard to believe in anything when you've seen how bad people can be, especially to each other." She closed her eyes, fighting back another surge of tears. "Sometimes I wonder if God hasn't just given up on the human race as a whole."

"I do not zink He has. I zink He is still out zere und still listening und answering prayers."

"Maybe." She sounded less than convinced, but was genuinely glad that Kurt had managed to hold onto his faith through everything.

The breeze picked up a little and she shivered. Kurt hopped to his feet and held out his hand for her. "Come on. Let's go inside. You vill freeze out here."

Millie looked at his hand and then back at him. "You're not going to teleport me, are you?"

"No, Millie. I know it does not sit vell viz you. Ve vill valk." He smiled wickedly at her. "Don't you trust me?"

"Not a bit. You're too much like the big brother that never got over putting slimy things in your sister's bed." But she took his hand and pulled herself to her feet. They started walking towards the mansion and Millie shoved her hands into her pockets. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anyzing."

"What do you think of Warren?" She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

Kurt shrugged. "He is a good man. Up until recently ve never saw much of him around here." He looked at her mischievously. "And I zink ve all know vhy he has suddenly changed his habits." Millie blushed a little, but it was dark enough that it wasn't visible. "Seriously zough, he is a nice guy, despite his upbringing. If you vere going to fall for a rich kid, you could definitely do vorse."

"That's obvious. I could have developed a crush on Tony Stark."

Kurt shuddered. "Do not ewen joke about zat. If you did zat I would have to disown you." He threw an arm around her. "Look, I know vhat you are doing here. You are looking for an excuse not to be interested in Varren. But don't. And do not let ze gossip around ze Institute keep you from it, eizer. Do vhat you vant, but do not let outside influences make your decisions for you, ok?"

Millie sighed and nodded. "Alright. Thanks, Kurt. For everything."

He grinned. "No problem. Just remember me ze next time it is frittata day."

She laughed quietly. "I'll make you your own," she promised before heading inside.

****

Nearly a month passed without incident. Millie was beginning to wonder if the Friends of Humanity had decided to just cut their losses with this particular plan, but the professor and Logan were convinced otherwise.

And truth be told, so was Millie. She and Jamie were under virtual house arrest, though no orders had gone down stating so specifically. Jamie hadn't noticed, much. He was perfectly happy in the little bubble of the Institute, at least once his two weeks grounding and extra class work were over. He had all the space he wanted to run around and an endless supply of fetch players and video games. It was 11 year old heaven, as far as he was concerned.

Millie, on the other hand, had begun to feel the strain and had begged Ororo and Scott to let her go along on one of the weekly grocery runs just so she could get out of the house. They'd agreed, though not without a certain level of concern. Nothing had happened, but the entire trio had been so tense the entire time, waiting for the FOH to jump out from behind the paper towels and green beans, that it just didn't seem worth it. Millie hadn't asked again.

She was cabin feverish, to say the least. She was fairly certain that the kitchen had never been cleaner and the flowers of the gardens so well tended. And she seemed to be taking over a fair amount of the cooking, or at least supervising the students when it was their turn so that what they produced was edible. She didn't mind. Really, she liked the teaching. Maybe she could talk to the Professor about starting a cooking or home-ec type class the next semester. She could make cooking a meal or two a week part of the curriculum.

She smiled a bit as she entertained that idea and finished loading the dinner dishes into the dishwasher. She kicked it closed and turned it on.

"Whose turn vas it really to clean up after dinner?"

Millie turned to see Kurt and she smirked a little. "Kitty and Amara, but they wanted to go get ready to go to Dazzler's concert, so I said I'd cover for them."

"And vhat vas your excuse last night?"

"Sam and Bobby had a science project due." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair before looking at him ruefully. "I know what you're getting at, Kurt, and you're right. I shouldn't be taking their chores, but I'm so bored. There's only so much I can do in the garden without exhausting myself, and at least I'm useful if I'm in here."

He grinned at her. "Vhat you need, my dear garden goddess, is a night out on ze town."

Millie scoffed. "I really wish you would all lay off those stupid alliterations and nick names. They're not even accurate. A goddess would have far more power than I do." She started wiping down the counters and sink with a damp cloth. "Besides, do you remember what happened the last time I left the compound? I was so freaked out that I rushed Ororo and Scott through the store and Logan had to make three separate runs to the store to get stuff we missed. No, thank you." She rung out the cloth and hung it over the spigot before turning back to him. She leaned against the counter and crossed her arms over her chest.

Kurt shook his head. "Zat is because you knew zey vould be able to recognize you on sight. Vhat you need is one of zese." He held up his wrist to show her his watch.

"I need a watch?"

"Zis is no mere vatch. Zis is an image inducer. Observe." He made a small flourish with his hand before pressing a few buttons on his watch with one of his wide fingers and seconds later a young man with dark hair and white skin that looked vaguely like Kurt stood before her. In fact, it looked like what Kurt would look like if he weren't blue. Even his hands looked normal. "See? Instant passability in polite society. Or at the nearest music venue." He grinned at her. "Come on. I've got a spare for if this one breaks. We can tweak it to disguise you and you can be in the audience when Dazzler takes the stage."

Millie hesitated. It was horribly tempting. "I don't know..."

Kurt smiled slowly. Time to pull out the ace he had up his sleeve. "You know, I am fairly certain Varren's going to be at ze concert." He leaned against the counter, his every poor oozing casual confidence.

She glared at him. "That's low, even for you, Kurt."

"So, you are in?"

"Let's go get your other inducer and make me look like someone else."

"Yes! I vin! Who's ze man?" Kurt danced around happily.

"You win?"

"Er... Ve sort of had a betting pool on vhether or not you would leave ze Institute any time soon." He made a bashful face.

"Who's we?" Millie planted her hands on her hips, giving him her patented 'big sister' look.

"Umn... Me, Logan, Rogue, Kitty, and... umn... Jamie. Maybe a few ozers." He reached up to scratch the back of his head nervously.

"My own brother was deadpooling my social life? I don't believe this!"

"It's true. He had a full month's allowance betting we wouldn't be able to get you out until two weeks before his birthday in August." He hesitated. "Logan was betting on Christmas."

"But you knew that you'd be able to talk me out with your image inducer so you bet on Dazzler's concert." She raised her eyebrow at him dryly. Kurt shrugged innocently. "Oh, you're good. Come on. Let's get this party started." She gestured for him to lead the way to his room so they could work on programming the inducer.

It took 30 minutes before the inducer would project something Millie was confident was different enough from her usual exterior that she wouldn't be recognized and that she was comfortable presenting herself as. She held up a coffee colored hand and looked in the mirror at the face of the stranger that was her. She didn't even look like herself. Her hair was curly and thick and pinned up to drape in a sort of casually sexy way off her neck and her skin was the color of coffee with lots of cream. Even her eyes were different, the projection showing them as dark brown rather than their usual medium blue. "Kurt, this is impossible, you realize?"

"Yeah, but magnificent, right? Come on. Ve're gonna be late!" He grabbed her hand and bamphed them down to the garage where a good portion of the population of the institute was waiting. Millie stood very still after the teleport, trying to convince her stomach and head to stop spinning. She was never going to get used to that. "Sorry I'm late!"

"It's cool, Kurt." Kitty smiled from her position against the bumper of the institute's hummer. "We're still waiting for Logan to get the keys to the hummer. Who's that?"

Kurt grinned triumphantly. "It isMillie. She's coming vith!"

Millie waved a little. "Guess Kurt won the betting pool, Kit. He had an ace up his sleeve."

Kitty huffed a little. "No kidding. But, well, that's great! Dazzler's concerts are amazing! I'm glad you're able to come with us!" She hugged Millie impulsively before dragging her into the crowd and announcing that Millie was coming with. The group was enthusiastic about it. At least, they were until Professor Xavier wheeled up.

Millie turned and grimaced a little. "Uh oh... busted."

"Very busted," he agreed, folding his hands in his lap. "Millie, I'm afraid I can't allow you to go out tonight. It's too dangerous."

What was it about that man that made her feel all of 14 again? She bit her lip. "Please, Professor. It's a well publicized concert and no one will know it's me. I'll stay in the back and come right back when it's over."

"She'll be ok, Professor. We'll be there with her." Kitty put in and murmurs of assent arose around her.

"I need a night out. I've been cooped up here for months, barring one poorly executed shopping trip." Millie looked at him imploringly.

Professor Xavier looked at the group and appeared to be doing some mental calculating. Finally, he sighed. "You are to stay near Logan the entire time, Amelia, and don't get too near the stage. I don't know what Dazzler's effects will do to the image inducer. And don't use your real name."

Millie grinned and hugged the professor around the neck. "Thank you!"

He grabbed her hand. "Be careful. I don't want you hurt." He looked at the entire group. "That goes for everyone. Have fun, but be careful. Don't take any unnecessary risks and don't use your powers." He turned to look at Logan who was just walking up. "Logan, you are not to let Amelia out of your sight for even a minute."

Logan looked at Millie and sniffed slowly. "Bodyguard the flower princess, got it." Millie made a face at the nickname as he looked at Kurt with a bit of his trademark sneer. "I owe you twenty bucks, don't I, elf?"

Xavier raised an eyebrow. "You were in on the betting pool?" His voice held definite tones of disapproval.

Logan shrugged. "Seemed like an easy win. Alright, load up!" He tossed a set of keys at Kurt. "Take the hummer, elf. Princess, you're with me." He started towards the far end of the garage. Millie gave the professor a last smile of thanks before jogging to catch up with Logan. 

/Amelia!/ Millie heard the professor's voice in her mind and turned to look at him again. /Please, be careful. More than careful./

/I will, Professor. I promise. You won't even know I was gone./ She thought at him, hoping he would pick it up and crossed her heart with her finger.

She felt, more than heard his sigh of resignation. /What name will you use? I'll make sure the others know./

Millie thought for a moment, then smiled. /Flora./


	9. Chapter 9

The ride to the concert was uneventful, apart from the fact that it was Millie's first ride on a motorcycle. And Logan was damn near suicidal on the thing.

It was frightening and exhilarating and she had spent the entire trip with her helmeted face buried against Logan's back.

They'd pulled up in front of an old brick building and Logan parked in an alley near the entrance. They'd been going so fast that they'd beat everyone else. Logan leaned against the corner and pulled a cigar out of his pocket. The line into the building was long and getting longer by the minute, but moving relatively quickly. This was going to be a packed show.

The others showed up five minutes after they did, walking from where they'd had to park about a block over. Everyone was chatting excitedly as they fell into line to get in.

When they stepped inside, it became apparent that the venue was set up like a club with tables and chairs around a dance floor in front of the stage. And it was packed. The group made their way to a set of tables near the emergency exit. They'd just gotten settled when a blond woman in a silver halter top and black, shimmering pants took the stage with her band. A cheer went up from the crowd as the first strains of music began to play.

Millie was content to sit in the back to listen to the music. She was even almost able to ignore Logan's snarly presence beside her for a good portion of the evening. It helped that Kurt made sure to keep her pop glass filled and Kitty was a willing dance partner for the more upbeat songs.

At some point, Warren had come over to say hello, his wings carefully hidden underneath a tailored sweater. He'd surprised her, really. She'd been dancing with Kitty and Amara, and singing along with the music when someone tapped on her shoulder. She looked over to see Warren and couldn't stop herself from grinning. It was too loud to really speak, but he'd started dancing with them. Or at least, trying to dance. The man really had no rhythm.

After a bit, Millie went back to her seat to cool off. Warren followed and sat next to her.

He leaned in close to talk to her. "I didn't think you'd be here."

"How'd you know it was me?" She asked, remembering that she didn't look like herself.

"Kurt told me." He nodded towards where Kurt was doing all kinds of dance acrobatics on the dance floor, garnering a bit of an audience.

Millie smiled. "Figures. Having fun?"

"What?" He shouted as the music reached a crescendo.

"I said: Are you having fun?" She leaned forward as she spoke louder so he could hear over the music.

Warren nodded and took a drink of his pop. "I love coming to her concerts. Dazz is a great performer."

"She is that. The effects are amazing." Millie grinned as another splash of lights sparkled from the stage.

They lapsed into silence, just enjoying the music. Warren found himself glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, and more than once he caught his hand inching towards hers. To be fair, he'd seen hers doing the same. That was nice to know. Encouraging. Finally, he took her hand in his and was pleasantly surprised when she laced her fingers with his and gave his hand a squeeze before favoring him with a small smile. Now it felt like his heart had wings, not his body.

The music died for a moment and Dazzler's voice came through the speaker. "Are you having a good time?" she asked. The crowd clapped and cheered in response. "I can't hear you." The cheering got louder and she laughed. "Alright! Hey, War! Am I famous enough that I don't have to introduce who we are anymore?" A spotlight swung around to shine on Warren and Millie. Millie winced at the sudden bright light and Warren held up his free hand to shield his eyes. He was suddenly very glad for the image inducer shielding Millie's identity. At least she wouldn't become paparazzi fodder from Dazz's little stunt.

Warren made a face into the light. "Just for that, you can make intros anyway, Dazz."

Dazz rolled her eyes. "Fine. Ladies and Gentlemen. I am Dazzler." She flourished her name with a shower of light sparks that appeared to fall from her hands. "The man back there wanting nothing more than to strangle me right now is the founder of our musical feast, Mr. Warren Worthington." She blew him a kiss and after another second the light panned away. "And over there on bass is the wonderful Teva." The red haired bassist played a heavy riff and bowed as the music faded through the speakers. She was haled with claps and cheers.

"On guitar I have Matty." The brunette guitarist proceeded to play the opening chords to 'dueling banjos' on her guitar, making Dazzler sigh and shake her head. "You can take the girl out of the country..." Matty stuck her tongue out at Dazzler, who laughed and stuck her's out back. The crowd laughed as well and applauded for Matty with the same enthusiasm as they had Teva.

"On keys and drums I have Kyl and Dil." The two men were obviously twins, though the keyboardist had his hair cut short and spiked and dyed an eye-blinding blue and the drummer's brown hair fell straight past his shoulders and flew everywhere as the two did a brief drum and keyboard duet.

"And backing me up are my singers, Gaia and Becca. Gaia, please remember that this is a family show."

The purple haired of the two back ups laughed into her mic. "So... no pole dancing the mic stand again, then?" She contrived her expression to be disappointed and a little pouty.

"Or anything else for that matter." Dazz said with her own laugh and then she looked back at the audience. "We're going to take a short break, so, I'm turning things over to my favorite DJ. We'll be back in a little bit. Kamar, take it!"

The lights swung over to the DJ booth in the corner. "Alright everyone. Let's have a party. I want to see everyone dancing," he called through his microphone as the opening beat to a popular song started. 

Millie leaned forward to speak to Warren. "I didn't know you were sponsoring this."

He nodded and smiled. "I'm a sponsor of the entire tour, really. When my father and grandfather ran the company, it was primarily manufacturing and that sort of thing, but I've always dabbled in a number of things, to the point that I have a few of my own companies riding under the Worthington banner. A music label is one of them."

"How many pies do you have your fingers in?" she asked curiously.

"Enough." Warren grinned. "Just enough." He tugged Millie's hand as a song started. "Let's dance." He pulled her up from her chair and took her only a few feet from the table. She laughed and followed him willingly, though she glanced around to make sure she wasn't getting too far away from Logan. She remembered the conditions for her freedom for the evening. The crowd was so thick that they had to stand close to one another, but neither minded. Millie reached up impetuously and slid her arms over Warren's shoulders as they moved to the music. She was rewarded with his hands coming to rest automatically over her hips.

Warren was impressed with her dance skill. He wouldn't have expected her to dance. She seemed like such a homebody, really. Comfortable in the garden and kitchen and taking care of people. People always surprised you, he supposed. As the song continued and moved seamlessly into the next one, he found himself staring at her lips as she moved against him. Warren knew he shouldn't, for every reason he'd told the professor and more, but with the lights flashing and her moving with the music so close to him it was hard to remember why those reasons seemed so important.

She looked up at him, looking happier than Warren had ever seen her, and he couldn't help himself. He leaned his face down and brushed his lips lightly against hers. When she didn't move away, he took a chance and kissed her again.

Millie wasn't sure what shocked her more. The fact that he'd actually kissed her (an event that had been the subject of many a garden daydream for about the past month) or that he'd kissed her twice and was still doing so. After a second, she shifted her lips against his, returning the slow, easy kiss. He urged her closer to him and her arms slid farther around his neck. They pulled back at the same time and just stood there looking at each other for a long moment.

Finally, he leaned forward to whisper in her ear, though with the music volume it was less a whisper than speaking loudly so she could hear. "I think we should talk." Millie swallowed and nodded. Warren took her hand and lead her towards the side exit.

Logan stopped them as they got near him and the door. "Where're you going, fly boy?" he growled, blocking the exit.

"We're just going outside to talk, Logan," Warren told him, his eyes hard as he spoke to the other man. "We'll be right outside the door."

"No. Wait til we get home. I'm not letting her out of my sight." He nodded his head towards Millie. "Those are the rules, right, Princess?"

Millie sighed. She knew better than to try to get Logan to go against orders. "Right. The price of freedom." She looked at Warren. "It can wait, War."

Warren stood there glaring at Logan for another second, then he nodded. "Fine." His tone was something more than annoyed but less than angry. He tugged lightly at Millie's hand. "Come on."

As he walked with her towards their table, the world suddenly shook and rolled with the force of an explosion coming from the other side of the building. Warren pulled Millie down and covered her instinctively. He could hear people panicking around them and he looked up. Through the dust he could see people with guns running through the hole in the side wall created by the explosion. And seconds later the screaming started. 

"Stay down and out of sight." He ordered Millie before pushing her back towards the wall and standing. He didn't like fighting as a rule, and he definitely didn't like leaving Millie alone, but this was an attack and more people than Millie needed help and protecting. He hadn't gotten more than three feet from where he'd pushed Millie when one of the men rushed him. The attack was haphazard at best, and it was easy enough for Warren to disarm and disable him. But as he did, there was another one. As he fought, people ran past him towards the hole in the wall. Kitty and Rogue were already helping to get people out while others kept the attackers distracted.

The music had been killed with the explosion, and now it was just screaming and gun fire, and the occasional sound of a successful punch. Warren heard a gun cock right behind him and reached back to pull it from his assailant's hands before he fired. He jerked it free and slammed the butt of it against the man's skull, sending him down for the count. He turned just in time to feel something prick his neck and saw someone lowering one of the guns seven feet in front of him. He took one step towards him, staggered, and fell, the world swimming around him.

****

Millie cowered down against the wall where Warren had pushed her. Between the gunfire and the shouting, all she could do was sit and remember hiding like this trying to protect Jamie while her father had died. She couldn't move, she couldn't help, she couldn't even look.

Kitty ran over to Millie, avoiding the gun fire and attacks by staying incorporeal. She knelt down behind the table where her friend was hiding and took her hand. "Come on. Let's get you out of here." She said, pulling Millie through the wall. As soon as they got to the other side and solidified, Millie was shoved violently away from Kitty and into the side of a dumpster. She felt something crack against her wrist, and felt the inducer crackle and spark against her skin. She looked down and saw her own hand and not the holographic one but her own, pale hand. She didn't think about what that implied as she righted herself in time to see someone fire a gun at Kitty. The bullet went right through the girl and into Millie's arm. A second one followed shortly after. Kitty turned and solidified to attack but ended up taking a shot right in the shoulder and falling seconds later.

Millie looked down. She saw two feathered darts twitching in her skin and realized that they weren't shooting to kill as she toppled to the ground.


	10. Chapter 10

Warren held an ice pack to his face, hardly listening to the angry conversation going on around him.

"...then they attacked en masse, Chuck. Some of our people were able to get out, but most of us and several others were stuck in there fighting to get out or helping others get out." Logan clenched his fist against his knee.

"Everyone had their hands full, Charles," Ororo put in. "There was no way we could have seen everything happening. It was like they knew who was going to be there and how best to separate us all." She gingerly crossed her arms over her chest, nursing a fresh set of bruises across her arms and torso. "What confuses me is why they didn't take everyone they knocked out." Ororo reached up and rubbed the spot on her neck where they'd shot her with a dart. "More to the point, us three and those others we helped out when we came to."

Warren sighed. "Good question. I'm pretty convinced they got what they were really after, and that's Millie. Why else choose the first night in months she's gone out to attack? Everything else is just gravy for them."

"Ok, but why? Why do they keep pursuing this strategy? What's so important about her?" Logan asked, which earned him a dark look from Warren. "She's not powerful by any stretch of the imagination, she's got a pretty friendly ability, and she can barely fight. That's not really enough of a threat for them to take this much of an interest. Just because she's the center of your world, feather head, doesn't follow that she'd be their focus, too."

"Warren may not be far from wrong, though." Hank looked up from the computer he'd been sitting at. "I think I might have an answer. Or at least, part of one." He turned the monitor around and showed a picture of a small sea of lit candles in a park with a fountain behind it. "It's the memorial held for Jefferson Bartholomew and candlelight vigil to honor those who lost their lives in the fight for mutant rights two weeks ago in Memorial Park in Omaha, NE. There were several of them all over the state. Mutants and mutant supporters were in attendance. It says they're thinking about making it a yearly event before going on to tell about Mr. Bartholomew's work that helped make Nebraska #3 in the list of mutant friendly states and his children who are still missing."

"What are states numbers 1 and 2?" Ororo wondered quietly, almost to herself.

Hank turned the monitor back around. "Umn... apparently Alaska's #1 and California is #2."

Charles frowned thoughtfully. "The Friends of Humanity made a massive tactical error by attacking the Bartholomews. Rather than getting a minor political player out of the way so they could frame mutants for his murder, they made a martyr of one of the most convincing speakers. But why Amelia? And by association, James. The only reason he wasn't taken was because he was here. That much I'm sure of."

Warren scowled at the corner of the desk. "Because if you can't punish the martyr, make what he loved most suffer." The group looked at him. "Can you think of a better reason? They've got her mother believing their propaganda, they've killed her father, and were tracking her until she got here. Smart money is on that they've been watching while she's been here too."

"Still don't make a lick of sense." Logan crossed his arms over his chest. "And if that were the case, why take everyone else? There's somethin' bigger going on here."

Charles sighed. "I think you're both right. Someone who is pulling strings is fixated on Millie, I'd stake my reputation on that much, but there's more to it than just getting to one woman."

"'Spose it don't matter too much. We've still gotta get them back." Logan put in. "All the theorizing in the world ain't helpin' them a bit right now."

"Indeed." Charles turned his chair to leave the room. "I'm going to try to locate them using Cerebro. Be ready to leave at a moment's notice." He left them and after a moment Logan followed.

Warren glanced at the other two before leaving the room. He didn't get far before someone came over and touched his hand. He looked down to see Jamie, his face pale and tear streaked. He was holding a brown haired doll wearing a red dress in his hands. That had to be Millie's, Warren knew. She'd told him that Jamie was always taking it and hiding it from her just to tease her. "Were you listening, kiddo?"

Jamie nodded. Warren exhaled quietly and pulled the boy into a hug. "It'll be ok, Jamie. We'll get her and everyone back. I promise."

"But what if you can't? What if they're gone forever?" Jamie wrapped his arms around Warren's waist and buried his face in his side.

Warren pulled back enough to kneel down to his height. "I'm not going to let that happen. Charles has a machine that's going to find them, and we'll go and get them. I promise you, we're not going to leave them. Ok?"

Jamie nodded a little and reached up to wipe his eyes with the cuff of his sweatshirt. "O... ok."

Warren stood and took his hand. "Come on. You should be in bed. It's late. You want some milk and honey to help you sleep?"

The boy nodded and Warren headed for the kitchen. He just didn't have it in him to force the kid to go to bed until he was ready. Not with his sister and roommates missing. If the milk and honey didn't work, he'd run the boy around playing fetch outside until they both dropped.

****

It was late. Too late for visitors, but the gate buzzed anyway. Ororo looked up at the intercom in surprise, and glanced at Hank. Hang shrugged his furry shoulders and went to answer the speaker. "Yes?"

"Is this the Xavier Institute?" came the nervous, male voice from the other end.

"It is. Who is this?"

"Please, let me in. They could be following me."

Hank looked at Ororo, uncertainly, before answering. "Who's following you?"

"The Friends of Humanity. God, would you just let me in. I know where they've taken your friends." The man's voice was starting to sound a little more than desperate at this point.

"I'm opening the gate. We'll meet you at the door." Hank disconnected the connection and gestured for Ororo to follow him to the main door. When they got there he keyed in the code to open the gate long enough for the visitor to get in. Moments later he was climbing the steps. He was thinly built with dark hair cut close to his head and green eyes. He looked strangely familiar and a bit like what Jamie might look like when he got older. He looked behind him as he got to the top of the steps, as though expecting someone to be following him.

"God, thank you." He said as the door closed. "I tried to lose them, but I don't know if they caught up with me again."

"Who are you?" Ororo asked suspiciously.

"I'm Peter Bartholomew. And I know where your friends are."

****

Scott groaned quietly as he woke up, his hand automatically coming to his face to feel for his visor or glasses and finding neither. Great. He sat up.

"Careful, Scott. Don't sit up too fast." Came a voice from his left.

"Kitty?"

"The one and only. How's your head?"

"It hurts, but so does the rest of me. Where are we?"

"Some kind of cell. There's a door with a slide to shove stuff in, and a vent system, but that's it." He heard her shift positions.

"What's outside?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean? You haven't been out to check it out?"

"No, I haven't. I can't use my powers. I bet your have been neutralized, too." She sighed. "Just, look to your left when you find out, would you? Just in case?"

Scott nodded and turned his head to the left and slowly opened his eyes. Nothing happened. He could see clearly and nothing happened. He blinked a few times to be sure before turning to look at Kitty. "How?"

"At a guess, check out our stylish new accessories." She gestured to the collar around her neck. Scott reached up to feel his neck, surprised he hadn't noticed it before.

He sighed and leaned back against the wall. "Any idea who else got taken?"

"Judging from those that I've been able to shout to occasionally through the vents, they got a good portion of our group and a lot of people not with us. I'd say they managed at least two dozen. Maybe more." 

"Kitty!" Kurt's voice rang through the vents and Kitty stood to go over to the vents. 

"Yeah, Kurt?" she called back. 

"Bobby heard ze guards talking. Zey've got a lab downstairs und as soon as zey get ze go ahead, zey're going to start testing somezing." 

"What kind of something?" 

"It sounded like a waccine or a cure for ze X gene. Pass it along to Amara, vould you?"

Kitty pressed her hands against the wall to keep her from shaking. "Yeah. I will. Let everyone know that Scott's awake, would you?"

"I will."

Kitty went to the other wall and knocked a quiet code. Seconds later, Amara's voice came through the exchange vent. "Kitty?"

"Yeah. Got news from Kurt." She relayed the information Kurt had given to her through the vent.

"Alright. I'll pass it along."

Kitty glanced over at Scott. "You've been out for a while, and apart from some annoyances, they've pretty much left us alone for right now. I don't expect it to last."

"I wouldn't either." Scott had to admit that he was pretty impressed. The kids were using their heads and trying to still work as a team despite the obstacles. "So, Kurt and Amara are on either side of us?"

"More specifically, Kurt and Sam are over there and Amara and a girl named Darcy are on the other side. We're all paired off."

He nodded and let out a slow breath. "Alright. Start thinking. There's got to be a way out of this."


	11. Chapter 11

Peter looked at the body of the white haired mutant laying on the floor next to him. Had they really thought that one woman would be enough of a guard while the other went to get this Charles and Logan they spoke of? All it had taken was her back to be turned for a moment and he'd had the kettle from the stove in his hand and slammed it against her skull.

He grabbed his bag and went to the foyer. Time to get to work. He knelt down next to the stairwell and pulled out the timer. Twenty minutes would be enough. He could get out and get to the car in that much time and be well beyond the blast zone. He zipped it back inside the bag and set it next to an end table that held a vase with flowers. He studied the flowers for a moment, unable to hold back the sneer. Millie's handiwork, doubtless. Stupid girl never could go anywhere without putting flowers everywhere. Without a thought, he pulled the heads off the flowers and tossed them on the floor before grinding them under his boot.

Then he left. It was a short walk to the gate, and without the code he'd had to climb over it. Once he dropped to the ground on the other side, he started running to the rendezvous. He checked it watch as he got to the car that was waiting. Four minutes to spare. He climbed into the front seat and closed the door. "Let's go." The car pulled out. Four minutes later, Peter saw the orange glow of the explosive in the rearview mirror.

He grinned. "Mission accomplished."

****

"Ororo?" Logan called as he walked into the kitchen where Hank had said he'd left her and the boy claiming to be Millie's and Jamie's brother. "'Ro? You in here?" He sniffed lowly and glanced down only to see Ororo's boots from behind the island. He swore and ran around to her. A quick finger to her neck told him her pulse was ok and she was breathing fine. Just knocked out.

Logan growled deep in his throat as he went over to the intercom. "Hank, get up here. 'Ro's down." He didn't even bother waiting for a response before he started sniffing out the foreign scent. He followed it to the foyer and saw the bag and the crushed flowers. "Fuck." He opened the bag and saw a timer with three minutes left. Not enough time. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the bag and went to another intercom speaker. "EVERYONE! Down to the hanger! NOW!" Remotely, he heard the sound of feet, the students that were left and hadn't gone to the concert for one reason or another, running as ordered as he took the bag out the front door and threw it as hard as he could.

Then he turned and ran. He reached the hanger just as Hank was carrying Ororo in. "Is everyone here?"

"I believe so, Logan. What's going on?" Charles asked. At that moment the bomb went off.

****

Millie grimaced at the pounding behind her eyes. It felt like she had a midget marching band going through drills in her head. She reached up to rub her face to try and wake up faster, trying to remember what had happened. She felt a sharp twinge in her arm and looked down to see the two pinpricks, marking where she'd been shot with the tranqs.

Right. The club. The concert. The bomb. She remembered then and sighed quietly, letting her eyes fall closed again. She may have lost consciousness again for a few moments, but when she woke up again she opened her eyes and began to carefully take stock of her surroundings.

She was alone in a dimly lit cell with nothing but the cot she was on, a chair, and a steel toilet. As she sat up she noticed that the sparse light in the room was coming from a bare bulb over her head of low wattage. Bare bulb, dank cell. When did I get into a Godfather film? she wondered, waiting for the room to stop spinning. How long had she been out? It was impossible to tell. She glanced at her wrist where Kurt's inducer had been, but it was gone, and with it the time and her disguise. The time was the more disappointing loss than anything. The holographic effects had been broken before she'd been knocked out, she remembered now. So no identity protection there anyway.

Millie dropped her feet to the floor from the cot and hissed as she lifted them back up again immediately. The floor was ice cold and her feet were bare. A glance down told her that she at least still had the rest of her clothes, and that was more comforting to know than it should have been. She lowered her feet again, more slowly this time and grimaced while her feet got used to the floor. The cold at least had the benefit of shocking the rest of the tranquilizers out of her system. That was something.

She sighed and stood finally, reaching up to rub the back of her neck and feeling a metal band around her neck. She swallowed and reached up with her other hand to feel all around. It was only about as thick as her thumb most of the way around with a wider square part at the front and no seam that she could feel. She licked her lips and tried not to panic. It was harder than it should have been. For several moments her breath came short and fast, her stomach twisted and churned, and her head buzzed and spun until she received a shock from the collar that sent her to her to her knees.

It took her two more shocks to realize what was happening and to force herself to calm down. The professor had told her that when she panicked she lost control of her powers and they got away from her. That was why plants would sometimes grew rapidly around her though she couldn't duplicate it purposefully. The collar must have been designed to block a mutant's abilities.

She swallowed hard and forced herself to breathe deeply until her head cleared and her stomach stopped rolling. Just as she'd gotten a handle on herself, she heard the door open with a disused creak. Millie turned her head to see a face she hadn't seen in three years. She swallowed hard. "Pete?"

He smiled a little lopsidedly, the same boyish charm she'd always known him to have, though he was older now. "Hey, Millie-pede." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and didn't come closer.

"I always hated that nickname." She stood slowly, bracing herself against the edge of the cot as she did. He didn't come forward to help her, and she was glad for it. "Were you and mom in on dad's murder?"

Pete sighed. "Williams did that on his own with a few of our more militant members. Mom and I didn't know until after the fact when Creed asked us to help with the damage control." He reached up and ran a hand over his short cropped hair.

"How many of us did your 'militant members' take when they bombed the club? We'll ignore the ones that were likely killed underneath the rubble." Millie might have been able to be afraid of an unknown entity, of these Creed and Williams men, but this was her kid brother. She'd changed his diapers. It was hard for him to be scary to her after that. Not that he was particularly trying to be frightening at the moment.

"I don't know. They told me it was just you, but then I heard Creed and Williams talking about new test subjects in the lab." He looked at her and took three steps forward before gripping her arms and forcing her to look up at him. His voice was low, as though he didn't want to be heard. "Look, I just came in here to warn you. Take the shot. Williams wants his hands on you so bad he's almost mad with it. If you take the shot, you'll be safe."

Millie stiffened and tried to pull back from him, but he gripped her arms tightly. "What shot?"

"The cure. It'll make you better. Normal."

"Let go of me, Peter." She tried to pull away again and after a second he let her go. "There's nothing wrong with me. There's nothing to cure."

"Please, Millie. Creed's going to give Williams free reign on you if you don't. If you're not a mutant any more, then the Friends of Humanity won't hurt you."

"Why am I so important? They killed dad and have been chasing Jamie and I down like fugitives ever since. Why us?"

"Williams gets like that. He... fixates. At first it was just an idea to get dad out of the way in the senate. Creed and Williams wanted to try and get their own guy in. He tells everyone that it's because you saw them, but really it's because you got away. He's obsessed, sis, and he wants to hurt you. Bad." Peter hesitated. "Take the shot. It's the only way you'll be safe from him."

Millie snorted, already knowing that wasn't true. Not if this Williams was as obsessed as Peter said. There would be no stopping him. "No. I won't be. Get out, Peter." She turned and sat on the edge of the cot, her back to Peter and the door. She heard him leave and once the lock clicked into place she curled up on the cot, her arms wrapped around her knees. She had to keep calm. But she couldn't stop shaking.

****

Graydon Creed smiled at the young man standing across from his desk. "Full report, Bartholomew. Both parts."

Peter stood in a military at ease position as he spoke to Creed. "The explosive went off as planned, sir. The mutants are currently buried under rubble."

"Excellent. Keep me updated. I want to know if anyone survived." Creed leaned back in his chair. "And your sister?"

Peter stiffened at that term. "The girl is adamant about not receiving the cure. Not even the promise of safety swayed her."

Creed snorted. "I'm not surprised. What do you think we should do with her?"

"Give it to her anyway. Then give her to David," Peter's answer was immediate and forthright.

"Your own sister?"

"My sister died 12 years ago, sir. I have no sister."

Creed smiled his approval at the statement. No familial misgivings. Just what he liked to hear. "Very good. Send Dr. Karnes to collect what he needs from her to make the formula. Then tell David he has her once the doctor is finished."

Peter nodded. "Yes, sir. Anything else?"

"Ah, yes. Take your mother to dinner. Mother's day was last week and I kept you too busy to do anything for her. I'm sure she'd appreciate it." Creed smiled. "Put it on the company account." Creed smiled benevolently. "That's all. Dismissed, Bartholomew."

"Thank you, sir." Peter saluted Creed before turning sharply and leaving the room.

Creed shook his head as he watched the door closed. That boy was a credit to the organization. Once this was over, perhaps he'd give the leadership of the Nebraska branch to him. David needed more supervision, though Creed was not willing to do without his particular talents and hobbies just yet. A transfer of power would be just the thing. Chapter head for Bartholomew and a fancy title and move to New York for Williams. He scribbled a note on the pad next to his keyboard to remind him of the idea. Creed believed in swift retribution and reward towards his followers. Failure was not tolerated at any cost, but success was just as quickly rewarded. It kept things running smoothing, kept people satisfied, and, most importantly, served as a reminder that he was the bearer of both reward and punishment.

Yes. He'd come with the intention of punishing David for his mistakes, but now he saw the wisdom in keeping him around. Even with his ungodly obsession with a mutant girl. At least it wasn't an affectionate obsession. If it had been, David would be dead already. He had no time for those kind of sympathies. Friends of Humanity was for humans and for those who wanted to keep themselves pure. And David was, at the core, the very essence of a purist. Even with his... unusual hobbies. As long as his targets were mutant scum, Creed could use it towards his own ends.

He pressed a button on his phone and a second later his assistant answered. "Henry, tell the scientists that they have another shipment of labrats ready whenever they need them, but the one in cell A5 is not to be touched. They can have free reign with the others."

"Immediately, sir," came the answer through the speaker. "Anything else?"

"Ah, yes, how's our patient doing?"

"The doctor believes he'll be off the ventilator in a day or so. Still no signs of consciousness, but he's healing well."

"Keep me updated." Creed clicked the intercom off and sat back, thinking hard.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning: This chapter gets pretty intense with torture. If you get triggered by that sort of thing, or don't like to read it, then suffice to say that Millie gets tortured by the FOH guy, David, that is obsessing over her and feel free to move onto chapter 13.

Millie was left alone for a while. It felt like days, but in reality couldn't have been more than a few hours. Time passed differently in a cell then it did in the real world. She sat up from where she was curled on the cot when three men walked into the room. One wore a white lab coat and wheeled in a cart of items that she was pretty sure she didn't want to look at too closely. She lowered her head, and didn't watch him as he fiddled with things on the cart.

"Name?" His voice was somewhat nasal and definitely had a superior tone to it that grated on her nerves. She didn't answer. "What is your name, Mutant?"

She looked up, her eyes shining bright with something like terror mixed with touches of anger and hate. When she still didn't answer one of the thugs that had come in with him came over to her and grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled back hard. "Answer him, mutie."

Millie gasped as his hand tightened in her hair another fraction and she felt some of the strands pull out at the roots.

Don't answer. Just be quiet, Millie.

When she didn't answer, the hand loosened in her hair only to slide around her throat and begin to squeeze. The lab coat watched on impassively as Millie struggled for breath and thrashed against him, trying to push the man off of her. Just when the world was starting to go dark around the edges, he leaned down to look at her. "Are you going to answer the question?" She barely managed a nod and he let go, allowing Millie to draw several harsh, sobbing breaths.

"Name?"

"...Amelia."

"Good." He wrote it down on his clipboard. "Powers?"

Millie swallowed, her throat sore and she could practically feel the bruises rising around the ring on her neck. She watched the thug flex his hand, as though he couldn't wait to get them back around her throat. "Plants." She whispered, feeling like the biggest traitor in the world. No one but a child would have folded this fast, she was sure.

Another note, and a hmn noise were issued from across the room. "Restrain her."

The thugs came over, both of them, and positioned themselves one on either side of her before pulling her to her feet. They both held her arms and the one on the left extended her left arm forward, holding it firmly at her bicep and wrist. The other had a tight hold of her other arm, but wasn't so specific with how he held it. Millie started thrashing and trying to get free, but there was no chance. One young woman against two trained guards?

The scientist came forward and tied a rubber band around her arm above the elbow. Then he started feeling for veins and when he felt on pop he inserted a syringe and began taking vials of blood.

Millie was panting like a caged animal by the time he was done taking the blood and the lab coat was muttering excitedly under his breath. "Lucan, with me. David, she's all yours." And they left.

Millie looked up at the grinning thug, the one that had choked her. She stumbled backwards, trying to get away from him. The thug merely grinned and stalked towards her until he had her backed to the corner. He reached out and stroked her hair as he moved in close. "Shhh. We're just going to have a little fun." He fisted his hand in her hair and brought a knee up into her gut.

Millie tried to gasp as the air whooshed out of her lungs and her knees buckled but he held her aloft by her hair. "Tsk tsk. I didn't say you could lie down." He pulled her close by her hair and wrapped his hand around her throat again, but didn't squeeze. "You know I can do whatever I want to you and no one will care. You're just a fucking mutant. Not even a real person. My dog deserves more rights than you animals." He tossed her to the floor and walked over to the cart.

Millie curled up on herself and didn't watch him until he started coming back over. He had a knife with him and he played the flat of the blade lightly down her arm, turning it at the last second to open a shallow, painful gash over her forearm. "I was disappointed, the first time I did this, to see that you muties really did bleed red." He spoke conversationally as he ran a finger over the wound. "I was hoping for something like green that would prove once and for all that you were all freaks of nature and needed to be wiped out." He lifted his finger and watched as a bit of blood dropped down and landed on Millie's cheek. "Then I realized how pretty red was." And he licked the blood slowly from his finger.

He looked back down at her and grinned as he pushed her onto her back and straddled her waist. "Now. We're going to have a nice conversation. And you're going to tell me everything that I want to know, and probably a few things that I don't care about because if you don't I get to play slashy slashy. And I might not even cut your skin every time. I could cut off a little hair, or your clothes." He played the bloody blade across the front of her shirt between her breasts. "We'll start with a question I know you know the answer to. What is your name?"

Millie swallowed hard and looked up at him, panting quietly like a caged animal. She hesitated, her heart pounding against her ribs and her pulse roaring in her ears. "...Ameli-" She gasped in pain as he gave her a slight nick just below the jaw under her ear.

"Too slow, peaches. I ask. You answer right away. That's how we play the game." He smiled, almost comfortingly. "I know. I know. You didn't understand the rules. That's why I just gave you a little cut. I'm David. Nice to meet you!" He laid the knife against the collar of her shirt, just pressing into the skin. "How old are you, Amelia?"

Millie's mind went blank and she felt the knife slide under the fabric at her shoulder and he sliced through the seam and the small capped sleeve. "Try again. How old?"

"Twenty-four."

"Good girl." He reached up and stroked her hair. "See. I knew you muties could be taught." He caught a lock of the hair in his fingers and twisted it between them. "Hmn... Was your father a mutant?"

"No." Her voice came out as a bare whisper and she closed her eyes tightly to try and hold back the tears. David dropped the bit of hair and cut angrily into her shoulder. She screamed at the sudden fire of the wound.

"Lying bitch," he accused, his voice a calm, barely controlled counterpoint to the rage of his punishment. "You know he is. Why else would we have him locked up downstairs?"

That caused Millie's eyes to fly open and she looked at him. "No! I saw him die! You people shot him!" She started struggling against him again. David wrapped his hand around her throat again and began squeezing. Still she fought and he choked her harder until the struggles began to die off and she stilled, barely conscious. He backhanded her viciously across the her face to wake her up again. She gasped and coughed harshly.

"Don't fight me again," David ordered darkly as he picked up her hair again. "Your father was shot, but not killed. He's in a coma down in our medical lab. His mutant genes have been quite helpful in figuring out how to develop the cure. At least they were til we gave it to him." His tone was almost conversational as he examined her hair with all the patient curiosity of a child. Millie swallowed hard and painfully as she turned her face away from him. David looked down and used the flat of his knife to turn her face back towards him. "I didn't say you could look away." He sliced through the lock of hair, cutting off a few inches of it. He held it to his nose and sniffed deeply. "Hmn... Garnier Fructis?" Millie nodded, the tears sliding down her cheeks in a hot flood. David smiled. "Oh, look at that. My second favorite bodily fluid." He leaned forward and licked the trail of tears from her neck all the way up her cheek to just under her eye. "Just for that I'll give you a freebie. Next wrong answer I won't make a cut." His tone of voice told her that he thought he was being a perfectly nice guy. "But that's just if it's wrong. Not answering doesn't count." He lapped up the tears from the other side as he considered his next question. "What's your favorite color?"

"Green."

"Huh. Plant girl. I guess that was predictable." He made a cut across the one on her arm that he'd already made. "Predictable answers are bad. Next time don't tell me something I could have guessed. Hmn... Favorite food?"

"Lasagna." She closed her eyes, waiting for the next cut. She'd been cut every time so far. But it didn't come.

"Huh. Good one. My mom makes the best lasagna. Or she did. Til I killed her. She was a fucking mutie, too. Could do this thing with the lights." He considered. "This is harder than I thought it would be, making up all these questions. I mean, I've done it before, don't get me wrong. I'm experienced, so don't you worry. But coming up with questions to keep it interesting for me is the hard part."

Then he grinned down at her. "Tell me, Amelia. At 24, are you still a virgin?"

Millie's throat went dry at the extremely personal question. She was terrified to answer and terrified to keep silent. He was toying with the hem of her shirt and had poked the blade through the middle of it just above her stomach and was drawing the blade downward. "Yes," she finally whispered, her cheeks flushing crimson. It wasn't that she was embarrassed at the admission, but at having to admit it at all to this... person.

"Well, that's good. You don't see too many virgins around these days. At least not past the age of 17. Lost mine when I was 15 in the back seat of the head cheerleader's car. Linda Carlson." He drew the blade down to the hem of her shirt, leaving a slash in the fabric. "And that was your freebie, by the way."

He reached up to cup her chin in his hands. "But, that's enough fun and games, I think. Let's get down to business, Amelia. I like to cut things. I like the way the blade feels going through things. So, I'm just going to take my time and have a little fun until the others get back. Then if we're lucky, we'll get to finish later." He turned her face from one side to the other. "I think, first, I'll give you something to remember me by. Mementos are important, you know. And I want you to remember me forever. I'd hate to be forgotten." He considered. "Hmn... but I do hate to mar a pretty face. You're lucky you are pretty, Amelia. Otherwise, I would've cut your face already. But, it has to be somewhere that you'll see it every day. So you don't forget." He let his eyes linger and pass down over her body and back up again. "Aha." He grinned triumphantly and pressed the blade to leave a long, deep cut slanted across her chest. Millie nearly screamed and bit it off into a choking sob. "There. Now you don't even need a mirror to see it. That's the problem with face cuts. You need to be looking in a mirror to see them, and if you don't look that often, then you could just forget me." He leaned down to lap at the blood welling in the cut. "Promise me you won't forget me, Amelia."

Millie sobbed harshly and didn't answer him. She tried to push him back as he leaned forward to lick at the wound, but he just grasped her wrists in his hands and pinned them over her head. "Promise me." He ordered as he pressed his tongue deep into her wound. Pain shot through the cut and Millie gasped through the sobs. He transferred her wrists to one hand and brought the knife down to where he could use it again. His hand slid down her thigh and he pressed the blade through the fabric of her pants and into her skin and cut across her leg. "Promise!"

Millie screamed and bucked under him. "I promise. I promise, I promise." She sobbed as he made another cut across her stomach and moaned into her skin for a long moment before stilling against her.

"Tell me again." He whispered as he sat up. Her blood was smeared across his mouth and chin and his eyes shone bright as he looked down at her. He played the knife across her shirt and cut another piece out of it. "And say my name, this time." He acted something like a child now, cutting pieces out of her shirt and pants curiously and not touching her bloody skin.

Millie closed her eyes and swallowed another sob, every wound on her body throbbing and bleeding.

"I promise... David."


	13. Chapter 13

The dust settled and Warren carefully eased himself from his protective position over Jamie. They'd been playing fetch in the back when the explosion had happened. There was shattered glass all around them, but a quick look told him that at least the back side of the mansion was intact apart from the windows. Warren looked around and realized that the concussion of the blast must have knocked him out. It was almost dawn. 

He looked down at the boy who'd shifted back to human form when the bomb went off. "Jamie? You ok, buddy?"

Jamie groaned a little and sat up slowly. "Yeah. I think so. What happened?"

Warren pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around the boy. They had to get him a uniform like Rahne's that would shift with him so he wouldn't end up naked every time he shifted. "Someone set off a bomb." He looked at Jamie. "We need to see if anyone else survived or was hurt. Come on."

Jamie looked at him, fear written on his features. "Did the same people that took Millie do this?"

Warren sighed quietly. "I think so."

The boy swallowed and nodded. "Ok. Just a minute." He took off the jacket and his face contorted as he concentrated. Slowly, he shifted into the form of a bloodhound pup. Warren watched and after a moment the boy looked up at him. The thought wasn't so much words as it was very basic images. He was going to sniff out the others. Jamie put his nose to the ground and started sniffing around. They went into the back of the house from the shattered patio door. While Jamie sniffed, Warren tried to get any sign of where they might have gone.

He was trying to get the door open to the elevator shaft, when Jamie started baying at the other end of a hall. Warren ran over to him skidding over rubble and glass. "What is it, Jamie?" Jamie projected an image that said he got the scent of someone's blood going down the stairs. Someone bleeding meant they were probably hurt before the bomb went off, but if it helped them find the others... "Let me go first. We don't know what condition these stairs are going to be in." Warren started gingerly down the stairs, testing each one before letting it take his full weight. The stairwell was a mess, but better off than the rest of the compound. The lower levels were made to double as bomb shelters, good planning on Charles's part. Finally they made it to the bottom and Jamie started following the scent again. He went right to the hangar door.

Warren banged on it. "Hello? Is anyone in there?"

"We're all in here, Warren," came Logan's growly voice. "The bomb short circuited the power and we can't get the door open."

"I'll try to work on it from this side. Is anyone hurt?"

"'Ro got a nasty bump on the head before we came down, and that shock wave sent us all to the ground even down here, but we're fine. What about you? Is the kid with you?"

Warren opened the panel to the door mechanism. "Jamie's with me. We were in the back when it went off. A few cuts and bruises, but nothing to worry about. Do you know who set it off?" Warren jumped back and swore as some of the wires he was working with sparked and burned his hand.

"Some kid claiming to be Millie's and Jamie's brother. He came just after you'd gone off with the kid and Chuck and I went to Cerebro."

"Peter." Warren scowled at his work and glanced down at Jamie, whose lips had lifted into a snarl. "I suppose he escaped before it went off."

"Had the damn thing set on a timer. Ah! Goddamn, motherf-" Logan's voiced trailed into swearing for a few moments.

"I thought you healed quick." Warren commented.

"That don't mean it doesn't hurt like a bitch when I get electrocuted." Logan shot back. "You got anything on your side?"

"Give me just another minute..." Warren patched two wires together and tried a button on the keypad. It sparked like hell and the door made a noise like it was trying to open but it didn't move. Warren swore under his breath. "Unless you've got another trick, Logan, I've got nothing."

"I've tried everything on this end. Fuck!" Warren heard him punch the metal door. Warren stuck his hands in his pockets and pulled out his cell phone. He stared at it for a moment, then looked at the door.

"Logan, I think I might have an idea. Give me a minute. Jamie, stay here." He ran for the stairs to get up to where he could get a signal. Once he reached the top, he opened his phone and hit a number on speed dial. "Come on, answer, you asshole," he muttered into the ringer.

"Warren. I've got a blond and a brunette and an unopened bottle of scotch. This had better be important." Tony Stark's voice came through on the other line, short and slightly annoyed.

Warren made a face. "Nice to hear your voice, too, Tony." He shot back sarcastically. "A bomb just went off at the Institute and I've got almost the whole school stuck in the hanger." 

Tony fell silent. "What about the rest of them?" he asked, his voice suddenly serious.

"Captured last night at a concert. Friends of Humanity."

"I'll be there within the hour."

Warren nearly sighed in relief. "Thank you. We're down at the hangar entrance." He hung up then and hurried back down to the hanger. "Help is on the way."

"Who did you call?" Logan asked through the door.

"Tony. He'll be here in an hour." Warren replied. There was silence for a moment. "How's 'Ro?"

"She'll live. Take more than a bump on the head to take her out for long." Logan sighed heavily.

"Did Charles find anything before the bomb went off?" Warren slid down the wall to sit, and Jamie came over and laid his head on Warren's leg. Warren petted him absently.

"Got some blips around Silver Lake. Nothing certain yet. Charles is hoping that the Cerebro interface on the Blackbird will still be working once he can access it again."

Warren nodded, even though he knew the other man couldn't see him. "Alright. So, I guess we wait."

He heard Logan's gruff sigh on the other side of the door. "Yeah. We wait."

****  
Millie woke up. David had had two sessions with her by that point, and after the second one she had literally passed out from the pain after he'd left. Now, she was thinking that had been a desperate mistake. She was tied down to a medical table with one arm extended and held down with two straps. There was already an IV stuck into her and the tube was clamped off and trailed into nothingness, waiting for... well, whatever it was, it wasn't good.

A further look around told her that she was in a laboratory of some kind and a few people were milling around, talking. They were all faces she knew, except one. Her mother and brother were there, as were David and the doctor who'd come and taken her blood. She had a good guess about who the fifth face was and she had a terrible feeling about what was going to happen.

She turned her face away from them and saw another body on a table next to her. He was hooked up to a ventilator and a monitor beeped steadily next to him. "...daddy," she whispered, tears welling in her eyes. He was pale and he had weeks, if not months, of beard growth on his face, but she'd know him anywhere. He was alive. Oh god. He was alive and they'd had him the entire time. And that meant that the dreams were real. Millie closed her eyes tightly and pressed her lips together as she suppressed a sob. Oh god, daddy. Why didn't you tell me. We could have come for you. The professor and Logan and the others, we'd have come.

Before she could think too long and hard about it, the doctor came over and picked up a syringe with a reddish liquid in it. "This will hurt for a while, but then you'll be all better," he told her, acting as though she'd agreed to the treatment. He put the tip of the syringe into the IV port and depressed the plunger. Then he released the clamp and Millie felt it burn into her bloodstream.

Nothing seemed to happen for a long moment. Then the pain hit. Her body was on fire as the cure went to work erasing the X gene from the DNA. She screamed and began fighting the straps that held her to the surgical table. The flower next to her began to grow and blossom out of control as she fought the change.

David and Peter watched with morbid fascination as she fought and the plant tried to reach her. Once she started calming, the doctor stepped forward to administer the second dose. There was another moment of silence before she started screaming again. The flower stopped then, and moments later started to wither. 

Jennifer couldn't force herself to watch, almost as though she were feeling guilty for letting them do this. She looked at the floor as she listened to the girl scream, pale and nauseous. She'd shunned her daughter years ago, but there was a part of her mother's heart that never forgot that this was her child they were hurting.

By the time they administered the third and final dose, Millie was delirious with pain. Not knowing what else to do, she started screaming for her father. Begging him to come and make the pain stop, to make the monsters go away. When he didn't come, she called for Warren and her friends at the Institute. The flower next to her fell dead to the floor with the crash of breaking pottery. And then nothing. Just the quiet whimpers of the near dead as she passed out.

The doctor came forward once she calmed and took her vitals. Her breathing was shaking and her pulse quick, but steady and slowing. He took the IV out of her arm and began to unfasten the straps.

"Did it work?" David asked, coming forward to lean over her unconscious form.

"I believe so. Whether or not she survives is anyone's guess. The cure is far from perfected, but by testing the current version on her we'll be able to see just how close we are to a permanent solution."

Peter looked at the doctor sharply. "You mean you're not certain it worked? Then why did we bother?"

"Because the only way to be sure of anything is to test it on a viable subject. We don't even know if it worked on the father. He hasn't been awake to tell us." The doctor gave him the most professional version of a 'duh' look he could muster. "If that's all, someone can take her out of here. I'll be up to check on her periodically." He sent David a significant look and the man nodded, his expression eager.

"Of course." He picked up her limp form from the table and carried her out of the lab.


	14. Chapter 14

Warren heard the thumping upstairs of a metal suit and carefully eased himself from under Jamie, who was using his leg as a pillow. As he reached the stairs he heard his name. "Tony! Down here!" Moments later, Tony appeared at the top of the stairwell, encased in his garish gold and red metal suit, and began walking carefully down the steps.

"Goddammit, it's a war zone up there!" Tony said, he voice somewhat echoey from coming inside the suit. "How did anyone survive?"

"Logan managed to get everyone down here just in time and I was in the back 40 with Jamie." Warren explained.

"Speaking of the Wolverine, why didn't you just have him cut through all this stuff?" He asked as he made his way over to the door panel.

Logan answered that one. "It's too thick. I've got one foot claws, everything down here is at least two feet thick." His tone was growlier than usual. Obviously, he'd thought of that and it hadn't worked. "Can you get the damn thing back online?"

"Give me a minute." With nothing more than apparently a thought, the tips of Tony's metallic fingers sprouted a series of fine tools. After about ten minutes the power flickered and came back on and the door slid open. "All you need is a delicate touch." He glanced down in time to see a puppy go through the door and into the hanger. Now he remembered why he didn't hang out here much. It wasn't just the kids, it was the whole weirdness factor.

At that moment, Charles wheeled up. "Thank you, Tony. Is all the power back on?"

"Just in this sector. I was able to hack in and re-route the grid to shunt all the power that was left here," Tony answered, glancing back at the panel. "Give me a little bit and I might be able to give you thin power throughout the lower levels, but the upper levels are shot to hell."

"That's fine. I don't need it all over. I just need it in here and inside Cerebro." Charles told him. "Can you manage that?"

Tony considered. "I think so, but you've got a complicated system, Charles. It could take me a while."

"Do it. Recruit the students to help if you need to." Tony nodded at the order. One thing he'd never do was cross Charles Xavier, especially not when there were lives on the line. He got to work on channeling the electricity where it needed to go. Charles turned to Logan and Warren. "You two, as soon as he's got that power going, I want us to be in the air. Take some of the older students and make sure that the explosion didn't block the waterfall." Logan and Warren nodded and went to recruit. It was going to be a long day.

****

The landscape was barren. The trees were bare and the flowers were withered. It didn't look anything like the flourishing Institute gardens that Millie had tended. But it somehow felt accurate. She looked down at her ragged clothing and broken skin. Even in her dreams she couldn't escape what David did to her.

She walked absently until she came to her tree. It was as dead as all the others. Unbidden, a memory of sitting with Warren under it when it was alive came to her mind and she watched it play out. It had been the time she'd been playing with Jamie and Warren had come over with some bottles of water. That had been a nice afternoon. Almost normal.

She reached to touch the trunk of the tree and it crumbled to ash under her hand. She gasped and pulled back with a broken sob. It was really gone. Just like how in her dreams when she'd had her powers she'd been able to make the plants flourish without a thought, here, without her power anymore, the extreme opposite was true, and they all shattered.

"Flora?"

She turned and saw her father. "Daddy? How are you..? I thought- They gave you the cure."

"It didn't work. Not completely, it seems. It took a while, but when I heard you screaming, something broke through the barriers and they came back." He walked over to her and wrapped her in his arms. "God, baby. What have they done to you?"

Millie couldn't take it. She broke down, sobbing against her father's chest. It was several long moment before she was able to speak. "It's David. He's... sick. It's just a game to him. Ask a question and make a cut. On my skin or hair or clothes. There's four that he's made sure will scar. So I won't forget him." She gripped his shirt tightly in her fists.

"Has he..?"

Millie seemed to know what her father was asking without him completing the thought. "No. He wouldn't. Doing that to a mutant, even as a show of power, is too disgusting even for him. He told me that much. Thank God for small blessings, huh? But he does other things. The cuts he wants to scar, he keeps breaking them open and licking the blood." She swallowed. "I'm sorry. I told you I wouldn't leave the Institute and I did anyway."

"It's ok, Flora. I should have known you wouldn't be able to do that forever. It was only an old fool trying to stop the inevitable. It's not your fault." He rubbed her back comfortingly.

"What are you, Daddy? I mean, what are all of your powers?"

"Before? Limited foresight and a small amount of telepathy. The attack apparently triggered a secondary mutation that made my telepathy strong enough to reach you and your brother when you were asleep, despite the distance."

"And now?"

"I don't know. It feels like they're stronger since the cure failed, but I don't know the extent. I suppose I'll have to start taking lessons from Charles when we get out of here."

"So, you're some kind of Oracle then?"

Jefferson smiled sadly down at her. "Something like that."

She swallowed hard. "What about me? Do I... your powers came back to you. Can you see if mine will too?"

He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Flora. I can't see that. The version they gave you was different from the one they gave me. And right now there's so much that's in flux I can't get a clear fix on anything."

She nodded and looked at the dead grass at their feet. "I didn't think so."

"Look at me, Flora." His voice held a note in it that made her look up at him despite her desire not to. "What they did to you was terrible, but you can't give up hope. The formula is far from perfect, so there's still a chance. But even if your powers don't return, you're still you. Amelia Nicolette Bartholomew, my little girl, Jamie's big sister, the girl Warren Worthington III can't stop thinking about, gifted chef, great dancer, amateur poet, and fantastic gardener. And that's only a few of your wonderful qualities. Even without your powers, you know plants better than anyone I've ever known, and that includes your grandfather. No matter what they do, Flora, they can't take any of that away from you. Yes, they took away your powers, but it's like when a runner has an accident that takes their legs. They still find a way. You will find a way. I know you will. You got me?"

Millie took a shuddering breath and exhaled slowly. "Alright, Dad." She pressed her lips together and willed herself not to cry again. "We'll get out of here, right? And we'll go home to Jamie and the others and everything will be ok, yeah?"

He pulled her into another hug and kissed her butchered hair. "I hope so. I really hope so."

****

Repairing the electrical system enough to actually connect to Cerebro and give it enough power to open the hangar door beneath the waterfall had taken the better part of the day. At some point during the day, someone had gotten into the store of rations and managed to make something edible. Warren suspected Jamie and some of the girls; he remembered Millie telling him that she'd made the boy help her in the kitchen when they'd been living back in Nebraska. They'd eaten in shifts off of the paper plates and plastic spoons that were stored with the emergency supplies.

Once dinner was over it was full dark again. By that time everyone had to admit defeat against the exhaustion of being up for more than 24 hours and fall down for at least a few hours of sleep. They slept on a series of cots lined up in the hanger with Tony, Logan, Warren, and Hank all taking turns to run patrols outside throughout the night. Ororo would have joined the patrol shifts, but Hank refused to let her and after a long, drawn out argument between the two, Ororo had given in. Jamie had been given the all important task of guarding Ororo and making sure she didn't try to sneak out for a patrol. It was the first time in anyone's memory Ororo had ever called Hank a 'low bastard'. Hank had merely smiled grimly and gone for his shift on patrol.

They were all on edge and everyone's sleep was restless. When morning came, Logan came down from his shift and started waking people up. Tony made the coffee with a pointed comment towards Logan about things being bad enough without his particular brand of toxic waste on top of it, and Hank and Warren managed breakfast between the two of them. Warren had to marvel at just how much kitchen knowledge he'd picked up these last few months without even realizing it.

Less than an hour after everyone was awake the X-Men and Tony were suited up and belted into the blackbird. Charles had left the older students in charge of the younger ones before they left. Before they'd even reached altitude, Charles was linked with Cerebro and searching for the others.

"There's a compound at Silver Lake and I'm getting pairs of mutant readings throughout the building," he told them finally. "Most are on the lower levels, but there's one pair that's higher in the building. Warren, when we land, I want you to do a fly over and see if you can get a count of guards and entrances. Don't take any chances." Warren nodded. "Come back as soon as you have an idea of what we're up against." He looked up towards the cockpit. "Hank, Ororo, set us down inside Letchworth State Park."

Moments later they had landed and Warren was in the air flying towards Silver Lake. The compound itself was relatively easy to spot. It was a long rectangular structure built on the south side of the lake near a small forest. In deference to the natural surroundings, or more likely to better blend in with the look of the area, the building had been paneled with long wooden planks and natural rock. There were very few windows, however, and most of those set into the ground level at what would be assumed to be the front. Clever.

He flew high enough that he would look like nothing to anyone that saw him. A bird, maybe, or more likely with the blue and white coloring of his uniform, a speck of a cloud. But it was hard for him to see what he needed to see from that high up and he had to risk going lower. Fortunately, he knew from experience that humans rarely looked up. He did four flyovers, each one lower than the last. By the last one he was sure he'd garnered as much information as he could and was preparing to gain height to fly back to the Blackbird.

Warren was arcing over the lake when the first shot was fired. He barely had time to dodge the net that had been fired at him and it knocked into his foot with bruising force and skewed his flight pattern. Before he could right himself another was fired and wrapped around him, knocking him forward about ten feet and bending his wings at all the wrong angles before he started to drop head first into the lake.

He barely managed to take a deep enough breath before he splashed into the lake. Once under water, despite the weight of the net he was able to fight mostly free of it, first an arm, then a wing, and his head and shoulders. His air was running out, and he kicked at the net as hard as he could while fighting for the surface. Finally, it came loose and he shot for the surface. He broke through and took a deep breath just before he felt something slam against the back of his skull and blackness rose up to meet him.


	15. Chapter 15

David practically danced into Millie's cell, another potted plant in his hands. It was his newest torment, bringing her plants. Not that he'd given up on his previous pursuits. Millie's clothing was more hole than cloth anymore, barely covering, and her skin was covered in cuts and gashes. The one consolation was that her neck was no longer chafed by the collar. Since she had no powers there was no reason to keep a collar on her to contain them. 

She’d rather her powers were still in tact. 

Millie turned her face away from David and towards the wall as he waltzed in. She was going to die here. She already knew that. One day he was going to cut too deep or too far and she would be gone. That she couldn't bring herself to care was bad enough, but it was made worse by the plants he kept bringing in. The wall was lined with pretty potted flowers that she couldn't feel. She hadn't had much of a power. Most of the time it was so weak she didn't even bother with it. But it had been hers. And it had made her feel connected to the green and growing things she loved most. The loss of that connection was more painful than any cut David made on her skin.

She felt David turn her face to look at him with the flat of his knife. "You're supposed to say thank you when someone brings you a gift, pet. Do I need to teach you manners?" He grinned viciously at the idea.

Millie swallowed hard and closed her eyes. She just didn't care. The cuts throbbed and her head ached distantly, but even all of that was sort of mutable thanks to the numbness she felt to her core.

"Well, you're not fun." She could hear the pout in his voice. "Oh well! More fun for me!" He jumped onto the cot to straddle her bare stomach and cocked his head to one side. "What do you think about stars?" He asked, lifting her wrist so he could look at her hand. "Maybe one right here." He pressed the tip of the knife viciously into the fleshy part of her palm just below her thumb then twisted. He grinned at her gasp of pain and let her hand drop. "No? I could put it somewhere else." He placed his hands on either side of her rib caged and drew them roughly over the scabbed over cuts down to her hips, scooting down her legs as he did. As he reached what was left of her jeans, he felt something in her pocket and grinned. His hand fished inside and pulled out a packet of seeds. "Now, why didn't I see these before." He asked innocently. "Oh, right. I did. I put them there. Did you try to use them?"

Millie stared blindly past his shoulder and up at the gray ceiling. "...no," she said, her voice hoarse.

He leaned down next to her ear. "Liar," he whispered before he bit down on her ear, eliciting a short, painful scream from her. He pulled back, licking a small amount of blood from his lips. "You can't lie to me, you know. I'll always know. So, did you try and use the seeds?"

She swallowed hard as the throbbing in her ear started to wane slightly. "Yes," she finally told him. The attempt had been for nothing. A last desperate bid, trying to find one scrap of her powers left.

"And what happened?" he asked, his voice taking on a sing-song quality.

"...nothing," she whispered.

"Exactly. Nothing happened because nothing can happen." He slid the packet of seeds back into her pocket. "And just for telling me the truth, I'm going to let you keep them. Say 'thank you, David'." He said as he slid the knife around the button of her jeans, cutting it loose and letting it roll to the floor.

"...thank you, David," Millie forced the words out, before they could get stuck in her throat.

"Good pet." He reached up to stroke her chopped up hair tenderly. "You're the best I've ever had, I hope you know. You learn quickly and are almost always pleasant. I'm going to have to keep you. I'm almost glad I didn't kill you when I attacked your house. Your little brother is still going to have to go. Then you won't have anyone but me." He cupped her cheek in his hand and as she started to react to the threat against her brother he pressed the blade of his knife against her throat, his expression turning dark in an instant. "You do anything, and I'll kill you and go after him to replace you. As it is right now, you can still barter for his safety. Do you understand?" He pressed a little deeper, drawing a thin line of blood.

She nodded, almost frantically and nearly melting with relief as he pulled the knife back. "Good."

"David, come to block 13C. Now!" Creed's voice came over the intercom.

David sighed. "I guess the stars will have to wait until later, muffin. I know, you're disappointed." He lifted her hand and licked slowly at the blood trickling from the recent wound. "Soon, pet." He hopped off of her and minced towards the door. He knocked in a pattern and was let out.

Millie didn't know how long she laid there. After some time, her hand went to the packet of seeds in her pocket. She swallowed back the onslaught of tears that threatened as she looked at them. Yellow climbing roses. Her favorite. He'd known that from one of his damn 'interviews.' She sat up slowly, crushing the packet of seeds in her fist as she did. She looked down at her hands, one with a bunch of broken seeds and the other with a bleeding hole. She sat again for an indeterminable amount of time, staring at her hands. Then she stood and walked to the line of plants to sit beside them, her arms wrapped around her knees.

Most of them were dying. David would bring them in, but not bother to take care of them. Why should he when watching them die hurt her almost as much as bringing them in the first place because she couldn't help them anymore. It was silly. Logically, she knew they weren't sentient and couldn't hear her or feel her when she aided them. They didn't feel it when a branch broke or when she pruned them back. But still, they'd been her friends. Her entire life, even before her powers had manifested, she'd been in the garden, playing in dirt and picking bouquets of grass and flowers and just about everything else that grew and could be bunched together. She'd always loved everything green and growing. And when she'd discovered she could make them bloom and grow or wither and recede with a thought or touch it was as though God himself had given her the one thing to make her happiest in the world.

She reached out to touch one of the plants with her bloody hand. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she whispered uselessly as she stroked her velvet soft petals of the orchid in front of her. Her headache turned fierce and she closed her eyes trying to will it away and pressing her free hand to her forehead with the crinkling of paper from the seed packet.

She turned her attention to the seeds in her hand and stared at the packet for a moment. Then she unrolled the open end and poured them into her wounded hand. One of the seeds fell into the new hole in her hand. She tried to urge it out with her finger, but ended up pushing it in further. Seconds later, her head exploded in pain and the plants began to grow.

****

Warren came to coughing and hacking as though he hadn't breathed in ages. His sore body, aching head, and wet wings reminded him what had happened. The fact that his hands were chained over his head and pain was radiating from where several his primaries should have been but had been pulled out or broken told him even more. A test of his bonds told him that they were secure and fitted around his wrists. No getting through unless he wanted to break his hands. He took a few deep breaths and looked around. The light was dim, a fact that his aching head could only be glad for, and he was alone. Shifting a little, he saw that most of those feathers he felt missing from his wings were scattered on the floor around his feet.

Goddammit! He should have been paying attention. Instead he'd let himself get too close for just a little more information and gotten himself attacked and caught. He should have known that they'd be watching the skies just as much as everywhere else and adjusted accordingly. But no. He'd been too confident, too god damned exhausted, to plan clearly.

He felt panic start to well in his chest and knew that he had to keep calm. Panic would only help them. He'd gone through the classes on being a prisoner, he knew what he was supposed to do. As he thought about the calming techniques he'd learned to get himself back under control, the door opened. Warren saw two men and fought to maintain his calm. He managed to look at them boredly. The fair one returned his calm facade and the dark haired man grinned wolfishly. That one smelled like old blood and something else. Warren's sense of smell wasn't usually so keen, but the scent was like a miasma coming off the man. Didn't he ever bathe? Warren sneered and the fair man started clapping slowly.

"Warren Worthington III. I have been waiting a long time for this." Creed said with a grin. "The mutant millionaire. Tell me, how are things on high? How's Cameron?"

Warren made a face and clenched his fists over his head. "Last I heard his head is in a jar. Want to join him?"

"I think I'll pass this time. Tell me something, are you the same Warren our little plant girl cried for?" Creed smirked at the rage that fell over Warren's features. "Not much of a guardian angel are you?" He stepped closer and reached out to pull a long primary from his wing with a sharp tug that left the end of the shaft bloody. Warren jerked and fought back a shout from the intense, localized pain of having his wings mutilated. Creed held out the bloody feather to David. "David, be a dear and take your pet a present from her paramour. I'm sure she'll appreciate the message." David stepped forward and took the feather from Creed, grinning like a child at Christmas, before running out the door.

"She's not much you know. Nothing special. No power to remark upon, really, though it was enough, I suppose. Not that it's a concern anymore." He leaned down to pick up one of the feathers that had been pulled out when they'd chained him there. "We have a cure, Warren. Isn't that what you wanted so badly, all those years ago? Something to take away your deformity?" He twirled the feather in his fingers for a moment before looking back at Warren. "Well?" Creed sighed. "This would be a lot easier if you would refrain from this intense desire to be so noble and long suffering, you realize. Do you want the cure?" He spoke slowly, as though to someone slow or dimwitted.

Warren looked at him, his gaze hard. "No."

"Pity." He went to the door and opened it. Two men stood outside it. "Change his mind."


	16. Chapter 16

Millie sat in the middle of a garden. The plants had rooted in the walls and the floor. She'd fed them her soul for the strength to break the stone and when the stone started to crumble, she gave them her body. It hadn't hurt then. Her flesh and her blood had acted as nourishing soil and water to them. And then they'd gone, taking no more than she could give, and sealing the wounds they'd caused in her flesh as seamlessly as soil over a seed, leaving nothing but a small seed in the fleshy base of her palm where it had fallen. A small vine grew there now, and it responded to her will as though it had always been a part of her. She sat there, staring at the small life, literally in her hand.

All around her, they were alive. She could feel them. She could command them. They waited like eager soldiers for her orders. A single thought and she could send them to tear this place down, brick by brick, not by beating, but in the quiet way of plants. They would root in the cracks and grow and spread, weakening the foundations until they fell. They weren't angry or emotive in anyway. It was her emotions that fed them, that made them react. It was her anger and terror and shame that made them move so restlessly. She looked up at the tiny sliver of sunlight, shining across the room through a crack they'd made. She gazed at the sun, so foreign after so long, as though newly sighted.

As she sat, the flowers crept close to her, like dozens of small children wanting only to lie near her or servants awaiting her command. One even dared to coil through her tangled, mutilated hair and bloom over her ear, breaking itself off from its brethren. A brave, bright orange poppy. She reached up blindly with her hand to feel it, to brush her fingers over the soft petals.

The door opened. "Oh, pet! I have a present for y-!"

Millie's hand shot out and the vine that grew from it stretched forward to wrap around David's throat and pull him inside. She looked up at him, her eyes shining with a soft, green light, just on the barest edges of sanity. 

"You failed," she whispered, the vine tightening and dragging his struggling form over to the cot where he was bound with the plants he'd brought to torment her.

She stood and walked slowly to the door, the plants moving behind her, fluid as snakes across the ground, not uprooting but growing to follow. She stopped and picked up the bloody white feather as long as her forearm that David had dropped when she'd attacked him. "...Warren," she whispered. She reached up to tuck the feather into her hair, held in place by the poppy before continuing on. She walked out the door, flanked by a private army that would slither ahead of her and choke any guards before they knew she was there.

On she walked, plants rooting into the concrete behind her as she moved, not stopping until she saw a familiar blond woman. The woman looked at her, awe and terror on her face. Millie stood there, watching her mother for a long moment, her expression impassive. "Where is he?"

"Wh-who?" Jennifer's voice quaked and she shrank back as the plants advanced on her. She backed against a wall, and found she had no where to go. She looked upon her daughter, terrified of the monster she'd given birth to.

"Warren. Where is he?" Two plants wrapped around her wrists and pulled the woman towards Millie. "Tell me."

Jennifer gasped and tried to pull back. "I- I don't know. They brought someone in a little bit ago, but I don't know where they put him. I promise you I don't! Please don't kill me!" she begged.

Millie sneered and released her. "Get out of here. Take your son and get out. I never want to see either of you again." She began walking again. As she walked past a master control for the cell doors, she threw the switch. She didn't know if there were any more mutants here, but if there were, she wasn't going to leave them here. She heard the doors open and the sound of people escaping.

"C13."

She turned to see one of the guards, his face pale. He aimed his gun at her and she raised her hand, the vine striking out to knock it out of his hands and throwing him back.

"They've got him in C13." He told her, his voice nearly shrieking.

"Take me," she ordered, drawing back her vine. The guard stood shakily and lead her down a series of halls. He kept glancing behind him as though she was going to sneak a vine around his neck.

As they got to the entrance of another hall he stopped. "He's down there."

"Thank you. Get out everyone that you can, mutants and humans," Millie told him as she walked down the indicated hall. She counted thirteen doors, all open, and turned to the last one.

He was chained, his wings bound, and wearing a white and blue uniform. There was blood dripping down his wings and feathers on the floor. He didn't look harmed otherwise, but his wings must have been in excruciating pain. She walked into the room. "Warren." Her voice was a bare whisper. He'd been coming after her. She knew it to the core of her being.

She was reaching up to unhook his chains when he lifted his head. "Millie? Thank God you're ok," he murmured as he sank against her. She knelt with him on the ground, her arms around him. His breath hitched as they jostled his wings before stilling. "They told me... they gave you a cure." He looked up at her.

"...they did," she said. The vines came around them and began to weave themselves into a cocoon. "We'll be safe now. I won't let anything hurt you." Outside their safety, the compound began to crumble.

****

The blackbird took off. Warren hadn't come back and that could only mean one of two things: he'd been captured or he'd been killed. Either way, they'd waited long enough and it did tell them at least one thing that they hadn't known before. The compound was well guarded. Warren wasn't known for getting caught on recon, which was why the Professor had sent him.

The flight to Silver Lake was short. But they hadn't been expecting what they saw when they flew over. The building was covered in flowering vines and appeared to be crumbling from the foundation up. At least two dozen people were running from the building and more were coming from the building. Several started running towards them as they landed.

"Help people get out," Charles ordered without needing to. The X-Men and Tony were already unbelted and running down the ramp as it lowered to the ground. Charles wheeled down as Kitty and several others ran up to him. "Kitty, what's going on?"

"I don't know, Professor. We were in the cells and then the doors opened and the collars turned off. When we got out there were all these plants everywhere and everyone was running for it. The guards were terrified." She looked back at the building just as a corner of the roof fell in on itself. "Could it be Millie?"

"I don't think so. Amelia doesn't have this level of power." Even to himself, Charles didn't sound convinced. "Get everyone away from the building. It could collapse at any moment."

The X-Men and students that had been captured scattered to do as they were told as a man in a guard's uniform approached carrying another one in a hospital gown. "Can you stop her?"

"Stop who?" Charles asked sharply.

The guard didn't answer as he carefully set the man down. The man looked up at Charles with weary brown eyes. "It's Flora, Charles. I think... they've broken her. I can't reach her. She's still conscious."

Charles looked down at the man he'd known only through the telephone and internet until that moment. "Are you sure, Jefferson?"

He nodded. "Yes. She's still in there. With someone else. I can feel her, but I can't reach her."

Charles nodded and closed his eyes. /Amelia. Listen to me. You have to stop.../

****

/...you have to stop this. You're going to kill yourself and anyone left in that building./

Millie heard a voice in her head that was so familiar yet so strange. She looked down at Warren, his head in her lap, unconscious now. How long had she sat there with him? A moment? An age? Time had long ago lost its meaning.

She looked up into nothing, her eyes still glowing a vibrant green, the only light in the tight, woody cocoon she'd woven around them. /Professor?/

/Yes. Listen to me, Amelia. Stop the plants./

Millie tried to reign them in, but every nudge of power intended to call them back caused them to explode even more in growth. She felt the building shake around her as one growth caused a wall to crumble completely. /I... I can't. Every time I try they get stronger. Professor, is everyone out?/

Outside, Charles saw Hank leap from one of the windows with a dark haired man slung over his shoulder. People had stopped coming out from the building and a quick mental sweep told Charles that there were only two people left inside the building. /Yes. There's only you and whoever is with you left. Amelia, what are you doing?/ His mental voice was controlled, but he was starting to feel the barest edges of panic prick at him.

/Finishing what they started,/ came Millie's cryptic answer.

Inside the cocoon, she laid a hand on the wall of the spherical structure, strengthening it as much as she could. Once that was done, she leaned forward and laid a gentle kiss against Warren's lips before straightening again. What little control she'd been able to retain died. She let go of it all. And as she did, she lost her tenuous hold on consciousness.

Outside the group watched in awe as the plants all around the building, from the grass and bushes to the giant trees that had been saplings only moments before spread their roots and branches and devoured the compound. It was over in seconds, with nothing but dirt and vine covered rubble where the compound had been.


	17. Chapter 17

No one moved. They couldn't. They'd just seen a fury that couldn't be contained destroy with nothing more than plants. Plants that were supposed to be harmless. The dust settled slowly and for a long time nothing happened. Then the first of the survivors began to move, to leave, or to run away in the case of some. The people of the Xavier Institute stood around the Blackbird, just staring at the mound.

"How... how could she do zat?" Kurt finally asked. "Her power vas so small. Zere's no vay she should have been able to do zat."

"They'd been torturing her. One of their members had become obsessed with finding her after she escaped the attack on our home, and he tortured her," Jefferson answered. "They also gave her a prototype of an X-Gene cure. One that seemed to work, but like the one they'd given me, stress triggered a more powerful mutation. At least, that would be my theory." He glanced at Charles who was nodding.

"It would certainly be a theory that fits-" Charles cut himself off and peered at the mound. Was he imagining it or... no. Towards the northwest of where the building had been, it was moving. And just as he'd realized that, something broke through the surface. It looked like a giant wooden sphere and once it had crawled mostly out of the rubble it stopped and settled.

The group was silent for a long moment. Kitty was the first to move. She started towards the sphere.

"Kitty, where are you going?"

"Millie is in there, Professor. I'm going to get her out." She ran forward and phased herself through the sphere. What she saw was not what she'd been expecting. Millie and Warren were curled together, their limbs intertwined, unconscious on the floor of the sphere. The teenager turned and phased out of the sphere. "Kurt! They're in here! Millie and Warren! I need your help!"

Kurt teleported over in an instant and Kitty phased him through. She looked at him. "Can you teleport them out?"

"Ja." He knelt down and put his hands on both of them before teleporting back to the Blackbird.

Hank and Jefferson were there in an instant. Hank checked their throats and sighed in relief. "They're alive. But badly hurt."

"Get them into the blackbird." Charles ordered. Hank tried to pull Warren away from Millie, but she whimpered quietly and held him tighter.

Jefferson smoothed back her hair. "Shh, Flora. It's safe," he murmured and pulled her away from Warren. Hank picked up Warren and carried him to the Blackbird. Logan strode over to take Millie from her father. Jefferson relinquished her to him, knowing that he wasn't strong enough to carry her yet. One by one, the X-Men and students of the Xavier Institute filed into the blackbird. Charles, Ororo, and Tony were the last. Logan came back down the ramp once the others were in.

"I'll take myself, Charles. You don't have much room left in that bird." Tony said.

"Of course, Tony. Thank you for your help." Charles extended his hand to the Iron Man. He took it and shook it twice firmly before letting go.

"Glad to be of service. Usually." He started to walk off to get enough distance between him and the jet to take off, and paused. "When you're ready to set up security at the Institute again, give me a call."

"We'll do that. Thank you again."

Tony gave a casual little wave before taking off.

Charles took a deep breath. "Let's go home."

****

Millie gasped and sat up. Or at least, she tried to. It felt like there was an elephant on her chest. She shifted her head enough to look down and smiled softly. Warren had his head pillowed on his arms next to her and Jamie was curled in the form of a small kitten on her stomach. She reached up slowly to take off the air mask that was over her face and took an experimental breath to make sure she could breathe without it before setting it aside.

"Welcome back." She looked to her right and smiled as she saw her father. She hadn’t dreamed it. He was alive. "I was starting to think you'd be asleep for a month."

"How long was I out? And... where are we?" She asked her father as he scooted his chair closer to her. The room was smooth metal all around and Millie didn't recognize it at all.

"You've been in and out for about a week now." He said, reaching for her hand. "As for where, we're in the lower levels of the institute. The bomb your brother set off pretty much destroyed the upper levels."

"Jamie set off..?" She looked down at the kitten.

"No. Not Jamie. Peter." He ran his thumb lightly over the little brown, wood like circle that was in the base of her palm. "How much do you remember?"

"Most of it up until I let go." She looked down at Warren. "I was ok, until I knew they had Warren. I didn't really have a plan except to get everyone out. But when David came in with that feather I snapped." She rested her hand softly against his golden hair. "Did I... Did I kill anyone?"

"No. Everyone got out. Even the humans."

"Good." She laid her head back against the pillow. "I don't want to be like them."

Jefferson nodded and smiled. "That's my girl." He kissed her hand lightly before standing. "I'll be right back. I told Hank I'd let him know when you woke up." He picked up Jamie from his spot on her stomach and carried him from the room, closing the door behind him with a quiet click.

Millie laid there in silence for a few moments. Without really needing to look, she knew there were plants all around her. Someone had taken her sick room and turned it into a miniature garden. She could feel them and would have almost sworn they were happy that she was awake.

Warren murmured quietly and stirred under her hand. Slowly he lifted his head and looked at her blearily for a moment. Then his face broke into a wide smile. "Hey."

She smiled back at him. "Hey. How're you feeling?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" he asked, sitting up slowly. "I'm sore still, but my feathers are growing back. I should be back to normal by the end of the month. What about you?"

"As long as I don't think too much I feel fine." Her gaze fell to the neat sutures in her arm where David had cut the shape of an X. "But I think I'll be ok."

"That's good." Tentatively, almost shyly, he reached for her hand. His relief was palpable when she laced her fingers with his. He shifted to sit on the edge of her bed and they just sat there for several moments, content to just be together. Finally, Warren spoke. "Millie. I know there's a lot that we need to talk about. And you've still got a lot of recovering to do, but... would you like to go to a movie sometime?"

Millie's face broke out in a grin and she reached over with her free hand to brush back a little of his hair from his forehead. "I'd love nothing more, Warren." She slid her hand down to cup his cheek and silently urge his face towards hers.

He smiled and leaned forward at her urging and gently laid his lips against hers.

And for a moment, nothing else mattered.

****

It was another week before Hank declared Millie fit to leave the infirmary. A few days after that she stood in the back gardens with the Professor, testing the limits of her new powers. She'd just made another of the bushes grow to ten times its original size and back again with nothing but her will.

"Well, I'd say your powers have increased from their former incarnation exponentially," Charles commented as she turned to him.

"Yes, but this isn't as much as I'd used back at the lake." Millie ran a hand through her hair. Her powers felt more natural now than they had before. Where before she had to concentrate to get anything to happen, now she could make things grow from a seed to a full plant with just her thoughts. The seed in her palm hadn't left, but was still a small, woody spot in her hand and further experimentation had proved that she could make it grow and respond to her will as easily as she could move her own hand.

"No. That was... frightening. But, I think it was like a dam breaking, really. Your need for the power caused it to break forth and now it's settling." He leaned forward to smell on of the flowers she'd just grown.

"That sounds right." She sat down on a stone bench. Across the way she could see her father playing fetch with Jamie. Things were right again. Like they should be.

"Will you go back with him? To Nebraska?"

Millie shook her head. "No. I know dad's got to go back there to get things settled, but my home is here now."

Charles nodded. "I'm glad you feel that way. What will you do?"

"I was thinking about going to school. I could finish my biology degree. Hank's run pretty ragged around here as doctor and science teacher and math teacher. You could use another teacher." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. 

"Yes, we could." the professor smiled. "I'll be sure to tell Hank of your plans." He turned his chair and started to wheel away, but then stopped. "Amelia, I've been meaning to ask you. What mutant did they have in the cell with you?"

Millie looked at him, confused. "There was no other mutant in the cell with me."

Charles frowned. "When I used Cerebro to locate you all, it showed me that every mutant except your father was paired into cells."

"Professor I was the only mutant in my cell. The only person that ever came into my cell was David."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Then that would mean..." The professor trailed off and Millie's eyes widened at the implication.

"..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends the first installment of Millie and Warren's story. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!


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